Photos; THINKSTOCK

INDIANS are particularly fascilated by =t*";*EW ,:: ." lchillies. Our attitude to them is largely matter ,']t-',,,': of fact. We know they are hot but we recognise ,l: i that the heat is not the only point of the chilli. ..i::,* Sometimes we use chillies for garnish; sometimes we use them to colour gravies (as in rogan josh, for
instanee); sometimes they become important constituents of pickles; often they are cooked like sabzis (as in Simla mirch); and chilli powder seryes many different purposes in our cuisines.

even further.

But the chilli is a completely different plant from the pepper and botanists classify it as a fruit and not a vegetable. Chilties can look beautiful (in Italian cuisine, the flavour is sometimes less important than the colours of the big chillies that are often used) and don't have to be hot. What we call the Simla mirch is not particularly hot and even the chilli that Italians associate with heat (the pepperoncini) would be regarded by most Indians as being more or less neutral. But chillies contain a secret weapon and it is called capsaicin. Capsaicln has the ability to cling
to the pain receptors on your tongue and produce

BUFN UNIT In 1912, a pharmacist called Wilbur Scoville created a tesl

that measured how many

drops of sugar water were required to mute the heat of
a chilli

So it is in the rest of Asia. The Thais like their chillies. But no Thai dish is judged merely on the basis of its heat. The point of Thai cuisine is the interplay of fresh and dried herbs. ?he chillies only add a layer of flavour on top of the herbs and spices or they are sprinkled like tiny atom bombs on aromatic and fragrant salads. That Asia shoultl not be terribly fascinated by chillies makes sense. They are not really Asian ir origin. They were discovered in South America, where they had been cultivated for ceaturies, by Chri:stopher Columbus and his men. Given that Columbus was not the worlcl's brightest guy ancl believed that America was really India, it is no surprise tlat when his men saw the ehilli they immediately linked it to the hottest plant they knew - the pepper vine which was, of course, cultivated in India - and began to,

a burning sensation. One theory is that nature gave capsaicin to the chilli to deter predators but to allow friendly creatures to enjoy it. (Birtls cannot detect capsaicin and can easily eat the hottest chilli without feeling a tling.) By that reckoning, human beings are clearly predators because capsaicin can burn the hell out of our tongues. But it can alSo - and perhaps this was nature's little joke - cause the body to release endorphins, giving rise to a kind of chilli high, one reason of Iooters and colonists took all versions of the chilli back to Western Europe, it had litile impact on the local cuisine. (Except perhaps in Italy) But then it travelled to Eastern Europe, where one breecl, the paprika, came to typify Hungarian cuisine. And then to Africa, where Portuguese colonists used crossbreeding to create the now world-famous peri-peri chilli. (They brought it to Goa as well, which is
why you probably know the name). But it was only when t}le chilli reached Asia that it found its true atlopted home. You can't think of Indian foocl without the chilli. It became an integral part of East Asian cuisines and only the Japanese seem to have turned it away In China, the more interesting local cuisines (Sichuan and llunan. for instance) make abundant use
some people crave hot flavours. Though Columbus and his gang

call allchillies,

peppers.

The confusion persists today iargely because even when it became clear to Columbr,rs aud his merry band of clods tH a biE: faf effi}i and a peppereorrr could not possibly be the same thing,
:.

of ehi[ies.
IT'S ALL IN THE LOOKS Chillies can look beautiful and don't have to be hot. What we call the Simla mirch is not particularly hot

peppers" (chilli was the Mexican name of the plant), thus muddling the issue

they started calling them 'chilli

I$fElllillH'tii,nti

nres

TANUARy26,2014

hindustantimes.com/brunch

TOO HOT TO HANDLE

India is nowa maior player in this chilli craziness because of the bhut iolokia *re chilli

ltnl

is the pride of lhe North Easl

BREAKII,IS RECOROS In 2011, the Trinidad scorpion butch T came in at 14,63,700 SHU on the chilli-heat meter

It is funny, then, that given how the chilli travelled from the Americas to Europe and then to Asia, it should now be one of Asia's most successful exports to the West (re-exports, that should be). From the Sixties onwards, English curry-houses run mainly by Bengalis from the
Sylhet itistrict of East Pakistan (now Bangtadesh) created rubbish curries with made-up names that reflected the chilli-content. A shahi korma was the basic curry with clahi or cream; a vindaloo was the basic curry with more chilli; and a Madras curry was the basic curry with a hell of a lot more chilli. No self-respecting Indian would eat tlis crap but Brits began to treat hot eurries as a proof of virility If a lager lout could eat areally hot curry then he became a real stud. (Not sure hoq frankly His mouth would have been on flre how could he possibly have done anything stud-like after dinner?) Now, it is America that is in the grip of chilli-mania. According to a fine article by
so

A chillithat is 2,50,000 SHU is hotbymost Indian standards. In 2000, according Io The New Yorker, an Indian scientist, RKR Singh from Assam, tested the local bhut jolokia's heat and came to the conclusion tlat it was hotter than tlre red savina, the chilli which held the Guinness World Record for world's hottest chilli. The red savina had a 5,70,000 SIfU rating but the bhut jolokia seemecl to be mueh higher. An American professor of horticulture was sceptical

numbers claimed by tfle Indian seientists but procured some bhut jolokia seeds and planted them. When his American-grown chillis were on the branches, he submittecl them to Guinness and got the new world record. His American bhut jolokia rated at 10,01,300 SHU
or signifieantly more than the red saviaa's 5,70,000 SHU. So it was ofhcial. India had the world's hottest chilli. Even if some American guy took our seeds and planted them. Except that in the world of eomparative

of the

The New Yorker's food issue lastyea4 hot sauce is among America's

Lauren Collins

in

is an American hot sauce tradition (labasco is the most famous) but Asian sauces are growing in popularitlt Sriracha, a South-East Asian hot sauce (it is a kind of sauce not a brand
fastest-growing industries. There

chilli-heat, no record stays unbroken for long. In February 2011, Guinness annsuncd that a chilli grown bv an
Englishman in Lincolnshire hacl beaten the bhut jolokia. (Obviousl]t the Brit hael developed a taste for Sylhet-style Madras curry) Two weeks lateq another Brit (yes, it is all tfiose curry houses) claimed a new record with a chi1li grown in the North of England called the Naga viper. This rated 13,82,118
SlfU versus the bhutjolokia's 10,01,300 SHU. Since then, the record has been regularly |T5UFTERi$T
Clrillipowder
(above) serves many different purposes in our cuisines. Tabasco (left),
is an American

name and you get clifferent variants in

Thailand, Vietnam and other neighbouring countries) is so popular that some years ago there was a three-month national shortage because Americans bought the stuff faster
than anybody could make it. And India is now a major player in this chilli eraziness because of the bhut jolokia, the chilli that is the pride of the North East. To understand why the bhut jolokia appals, you need to understand

revised upwards.

In

2011,

the Trinidad

the American erypto-scientific approach to t]te chilli.

In

1912,

a pbarmacist calletl Wilbur Scoville created

test that measured how many fuops of sugar water were required to mute the heat of a chilli. They now use liquid chromatography to tlo the same thing in a more high-tech fashion but the Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) is still the basic test of the hotress of a chilli. The ltalian pepperoncini is about 300 SHU but to get the kind of heat that Indians could recognise as a propei chilli flavour you need something like 40,0t0 SlfU. (Our rect chillis can go upto 1,00,000 SHU withoutoureven noticing.)

scorpion butch T came in at 14,63,700 SHU. Ln2012, it was claimed that something called the Trinirlad Moruga scorpion (scorpion butch's cousin, perhaps) had exceeded two million SHUs. And so it goes. Now people are regularly breeding chilli plants only to beat the world record - unlike the bhut jolokia, which occurs naturally and is used in the local. cuisine. So you've got to ask yourself: what is a chilli for? To win comBetitions? Or to flavour food? I think I know the answer. And it tells us about the difference between Asia and the West. The West stole the chilli from South America and never knew what to do with it. On the other hand, Asia built a whole cuisine around it. And now while we enjoy the chilli flavour in our food, the West wastes its time on stupid competitions featuring chillis that most people will
ne\Ferear.
JANUARY 26, 2014

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