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Chillies aren’t just added to food for their hotness – some varieties can also give a delicious flavour to both savoury and sweet dishes. Cooking Coach Terry Farris profiles some of the most popular peppers From a tingle on the tongue to a full-blown explosion on the palate, chillies have been adding heat and flavour to dishes all over the world for centuries. Native to the Americas, primarily Mexico, they probably made their way to Europe and Asia with Christopher Columbus and quickly found acceptance in recipes from Italy to India. Chillies come in dozens of varieties, colours, shapes and sizes, and their heat can range from mild to dangerously hot. The hotness of a chilli is expressed in Scoville Heat Units, named after the American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville. In 1912, he devised a scientific test to measure just how hot chillies could be. On the Scoville scale, a bell pepper (capsicum) scores 0, a jalapeño pepper around 3,000 and a habañero a scorching 300,000. Hot flush
The heat comes from capsaicin (pronounced cap-SAY-a-sin), a substance that produces endorphins in the brain – this is why some chemists think eating chillies can seem addictive, a bit like chocolate. Capsaicin is odourless and flavourless, but is a natural irritant and can cause severe pain to skin and tender parts of the body (hence its use in anti-mugging sprays). Pure capsaicin comes in at a whopping 16 million Scovilles, although it’s distributed throughout a chilli in varying concentrations: the whitish ribs contain the most (about 80 per cent capsaicin), the seeds are next, and, last but not least, the flesh and skin. So if you want less heat, strip out the ribs and seeds. Burn, baby, burn
Capsaicin isn’t very soluble, which means that if you’ve just burnt your mouth on a hot chilli, drinking water won’t help. You’re better off drinking milk, or eating ice-cream, as these dairy products contain casein, a protein that can break down the capsaicin oils. However, as hardened chilli or curry fans know, it’s possible to build up a resistance to capsaicin, so the more you eat, the more tolerant you become and the hotter your food can be.
Cook’s tip: I have it on good authority that, if you’ve been chopping chillies, a mixture of 1 part bleach to 5 parts water will wash chilli residue off your fingers. Alternatively, wear rubber gloves when cutting chillies – or to avoid all contact, use a food processor or hand-held blender.
One chilli you probably won’t be getting used to is the newly-discovered Naga Jolokia pepper from Assam in northern India. Until recently, the Guinness Book of Records listed the Red Savina Habañero as the hottest chilli in world, with a Scoville rating of 577,000. But this new contender claims the title with a flesh-burning score of 855,000, almost 50 per cent hotter. Typically, the military is investigating Naga Jolokia as a tear gas weapon. Over the page: How to buy chillies, and the pepper A–Z
Buying chillies
Chillies are available fresh, pickled, dried, smoked, crushed or powdered. When buying fresh chillies, regardless of colour, look for firm, shiny skin with no black spots or wrinkles. As a general rule, though not absolute, the smaller the chilli, the hotter it will be. To test a chilli’s heat, cut off a small piece and touch the cut side with your tongue. If it is really hot you will get a quick sensation, which should tell you to use it in moderation. Crushed or flaked chilli is usually a form of cayenne and can be added to all sorts of dishes, even sprinkled on pizza. Use sparingly, as most packets of flaked chilli contain dried seeds and ribs – a teaspoon of chilli flakes is about the same as three medium-sized fresh chillies. Chilli powder can be made from any number of varieties of chillies, depending on where you buy it. The heat can also vary, so test it first if you’re not sure. It should be added to the dish early on as it takes time for the flavour and heat to develop. Adding at the end of cooking or as a garnish sprinkled on top will result in a raw, bitter taste. Dried chillies, whether whole or ground, should be bright in colour and have a sweet, caramelised flavour. Be sure your dried chillies are fresh and haven’t been on the shelf too long, otherwise they lose their flavour (but not their heat).Chilli A-Z
There are more and more different chilli varieties turning up in the shops and supermarkets all the time, both in fresh and dried form. These little fruits are widely adaptable in all sorts of dishes (even sweet recipes) and can add depths of flavour as well as heat. Here are some of the more common chillies available in the UK: Anaheim is a Californian variety, usually long and green and quite mild in flavour; thick enough and mild enough for roasting and stuffing. Bird's Eye. See Thai Cayenne is most commonly dried, ground and used in recipes as a very hot spice. The peppers can grow in excess of 30cm. Cherry. See Kashmiri Chipotles are smoked and dried jalapeños; subsequently, they have a warm, nutty flavour and work well with chocolate in molé sauce. Habañeros were, until recently, the hottest of all chillis. A relative of the Scotch bonnet, the habañero is small but fat, with a delicious sweet taste – although the penetrating heat can often overwhelm the tastebuds. Good (if used sparingly) in salsa and chutneys. Over the page: More chillies and some damn hot recipes
Jalapeños, both green and red, are the ones you find in bulk in supermarkets. Conical and fat, they’re a good generic variety when a recipe calls for fresh chilli. Jalapenos also come in pickled form, usually found in jars in the Mexican or ethnic food section, and make a tasty addition to chilli con carne. Kashmiri and Cherry chillies are used in Indian masalas and curries. They’re usually sold whole and dried, and should be soaked in water for 15 minutes or so before being chopped, puréed and added to stir-fries and sauces. Poblanos (known as mulattos or anchos when dried) are long, thick and fleshy, and are the variety most commonly used in ‘authentic’ Tex-Mex chilli con carne. Scotch Bonnets, so called because of their squat, flattened shape, are very hot. They’re considered to have a more tropical taste than their close relative, the habañero, and are used widely in Caribbean cooking. Serranos are bullet-shaped peppers about 5cm long with a clean, refreshing flavour. The green varieties are mild and best used in green salsas; red varieties (a sign of ripeness) are sweeter.Thai or Bird's Eye chillies are long and thin and come in green and red and shades in between. These are very hot and used in Chinese and South-east Asian dishes. Chilli Recipes: What's you favourite chilli dish? Share it on the Quick & Easy Cooking board.
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