Robalid Eva - Chilis: Extra-Hot Recipes and Gardening Tips for Everyone

Contents

CHEW

A SEARING PASSION

IMAGINE BITING INTO a fresh and supple chili. Chew thoroughly! Feel the intense flavor on your tongue and then experience how the heat disperses within your mouth. The heat creeps up on you, drops of sweat bead on your upper lip and forehead, maybe even in your ears and around your eyes. Salivation increases, and if the chili is really hot you might get hiccups or start to cough. No other vegetable or fruit generates so many bodily reactions after just one single bite. Apart from the heat, you might make out a tropical sweetness, a bitter note or a hint of citrusall depending on what kind of chili youve eaten. If it is too blisteringly hot youll probably get up, catch your breath and search for something cool to drink.

Capsicum , the chili pepper, is a berry, botanically speaking. In the industry it is referred to as a fruit, and it is used as a vegetable. When dried, the chili is a spice. Maybe it sounds a bit complicated, but it is enough if you remember that when it comes to chili, it could mean a lot of things.

Chili has caused sensations for thousands of years and is adored in many parts of the world. Chili is probably the commercial product quickest to establish itself all over the globechili was everywhere long before its name was known. Chili is an integral part of the daily life of billions of people, a spice that adds vitamins and flavors to foodstuffs for even the most destitute people. Once chilis were discovered by Columbus at the end of the 15th century, they quickly made their way from South and Central America to Europe and on to Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, where just as quickly they assimilated to many countries culinary culture.

Famous Swedish botanist Carl von Linn mentions chili for the first time in 1749, when he visited the cultivations in a field in Limhamn, on the outskirts of the southern Swedish town of Malm. However, there are no reliable records of how common it was in Swedish kitchens in the 18th century. There is no mention of chilis in the cookbooks of that era, but red long pepper might have been alluded to, probably in reference to chili, since a true (Indian) long pepper is dark brown and is more reminiscent of black pepper. What is known, however, is that chili appeared relatively early in the apothecary inventory as a medicinal herb. The Swedes knowledge of different species of chilies and their usage is surprisingly narrowfor instance, many recipes still call for one to two red or green chili fruits to be added to a stew. This doesnt necessarily mean that chefs dont know any of the chilies names; it might just refer to the meager offerings in the way of fresh chilies in grocery stores. As recently as 10 years ago, you could thank your lucky stars if you found these red and green chilies at the supermarket; however, lately fresh jalapeos, habaneros and sometimes even the superhot Trinidad Moruga Scorpion and Carolina Reaper have made an appearance on grocery shelves.

You beget a considerably larger choice of species and varieties to use in cooking if you grow your own chilies, and can select among hundreds of tasty varieties. The books expert and well-versed chili-grower Kerstin Rosengren from Glemmingebro on sterlen (in the southern Swedish province of Skne), lives with chilies year-round, and grows at least 300 different varieties each year. Growing chilies demands commitment and interest, and those of you who learn how to do it will be richly rewarded.

The best thing about chilis is the amazing variety out there. There is everything from the mildest types, which are close to bell peppers in taste, to those so hot your whole body catches fire after just a teeny, tiny bite. Chilis are probably the worlds most beautiful fruit, and not just those as red as a freshly painted Ferrari, but also thanks to their different shapes and their large range of colors, from creamy white and yellow to green, orange, lilac, and as black as a vegetable can ever get.

You can grow chilis because of their beauty, because they are delicious, because they are hot, because you like to cook, or simply because you relish a real challengeor a combination of all of the above.

If you feel perspiration on your upper lip or around your eyes merely from reading about chilis, youre not alone. This books author sweated profusely in front of the screen while working on this book.

However, the wonderful thing about chilis isnt just all the ways in which they heat things up, but that they also provide a jolt of endorphins. Endorphins are the bodys own morphine, a pain reliever as well as a stimulantyes, you quite simply might experience a chili high that is slightly addictive. We want to strengthen your passion for chilis by sharing our knowledge.

Welcome to our sizzling hot world!

Eva, Kerstin, and Pernilla

GROW

FROM SEED TO HARVEST

MAKING A SEED grow is a little like performing a magic trick; under your care a dry, small seed is transformed into something living and growinga plant! When the seed is provided with warmth and water the growing process begins. What it will become is already predestined in the seeds genes. It isnt just decided that it will become a plant of the family Capsicum, but also whether it is to become a habanero or jalapeo, or whichever type you sowed.

Easy to grow for beginners:

Jalapeo
Cayenne Golden
Big Jim
Anaheim
Lombardo

Well-known chili varieties are sold in plant nurseries and at several larger and smaller seed companies online. Vendors who sell seeds as a main product must guarantee the purity of the seeds as well as a certain germination rate to be permitted to sell the seeds. You can be confident when buying from them, because you know what youre getting and that the seeds will grow. Sometimes you might get lucky and find organic seeds that have been produced without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Seed packets labeled F1 mean that these are first generation seeds from select plants. They have especially good properties in looks, flavor, and/or cultivation (theyre less susceptible to disease, for example). An F1 hybrid will seldom make a stable seed, so its not a good idea to collect those seeds. If you want to find unusual varieties, try vendor websites from other countries.