Mexican Heat: Popular Chilies
Tara A. Spears
Many of our favorite dishes are enhanced by the addition of some type of chili seasoning. It is believed that chili peppers were one of the first cultivated plants in the Western hemisphere and the first spice used anywhere in the world! Many of the most sought after chili are native to Mexico, including serrano, poblanero, tepin and habaneros.
By the early 1500s chili peppers were found on every continent, dramatically altering cuisines everywhere. Today, chiles are a popular ingredient in cooking. In American and Canadian supermarkets, chili are found in the produce section or in the sauces aisle, generally in jars marked as “mild,” “medium,” or “hot.” In Mexico will you can find an entire supermarket aisle with tubs of various types of fresh chili.
It‟s interesting that in 1912 an American pharmacist, William Scoville, devised a measure of spicy heat for comparing types of chili peppers.
According to the Mexican Archeology, Scoville heat units (SHU) measure the capsaicin concentration of chili. Capsaicin is a chemical contained in the pepper that produces the runny nose/ eye water/ flame on the tongue experience. This formula is still widely used but another method that uses high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a faster, more accurate means of measuring the concentration of heat-producing chemicals.
Let‟s look at four of the particular chilies that are traditionally used in Mexican cooking:
The famous habanera chili pepper packs a lot of fire. They grow mainly on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, where they are believed to have originated, though they can usually be grown anywhere as an annual.
My neighbor introduced me to a unique chili called Tepin pepper (or sometimes called Chiltepen). Don‟t let its size fool you, these tiny bright red-orange little balls are extremely hot. Tepin is harvested from the wild in the Mexican
desert where the heat level of the fruit can vary
greatly from year to year depending on the amount of natural rainfall that occurs during the time that the fruit is forming. During years of drought the potency of the heat levels can be weak but during normal rainfall years the highest heat levels are produced. My neighbor grows her own tepin peppers so it always has gets the perfect amount of water; the peppers are searing hot!
In Spanish, the heat of the chiltepin is called arrebatado (“rapid” or “violent”), because, while the heat is intense, it is not very enduring. Still, one needs a cold beer to flush the fire.
A wonderful pepper to grow in a container is the Mexican tabasco chili pepper. This chili is best known for its use in Tabasco sauce. This pepper starts out green turning orange and then red as it ripens. The initial letter of tabasco is rendered in lowercase when referring to the botanical variety, but is capitalized when referring to the Mexican state or the brand of hot sauce.
The poblano chili is one of the less fiery peppers. The poblano pepper (named after the Mexican state of Puebla) is a relatively large, mild variety of chile popular in Mexican cuisine. Combining complex
sweetness and subtle heat, the poblano is amazingly versatile. When roasted, its skin softens, blistering and taking on notes of smokiness. But the pepper also retains its shape, making it a wonderful choice for stuffing and finishing in the oven.
The next time that you are visiting Mexico, check out the array of fresh chili at a tiangi (outdoor street market) or a local produce store. Just be sure to have a cold beer or other libation to accompany the test drive of the Mexican chili- some like „em hot!
