Chili Diaries
TCB Spicy Excerpts
I would like to preface today’s newsletter by saying this was NOT the plan for today. I was not going to be writing about spice or hot sauce but Cinco de Mayo caused me to shift my entire writing schedule. Growing up in LA, I was always surrounded by Mexican culture, cuisine, friends… Although I was aware of it, I really took my constant exposure to what Mexico had to offer for granted. Especially now more than ever, it’s important to recognize the faces that make up our community. Take a look around and appreciate the surrounding cultures and recognize what they’ve taught and exposed you to.
Ever since leaving LA, every year on Cinco de Mayo, I crave the bright colors, the street fairs, the smell of elotes on the grill, and the sounds of mariachi bands playing. Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexican Independence Day (Sept 16th) but rather the day the Mexican beat the French at the Battle of Puebla despite have a smaller and less equipped army. This is an important moment to recognize in Mexican history as it was one of the first successful victories against foreign domination.
Last week I made my corn jelly as a weirdo taco condiment for a dinner at home and I will 100% be doing that again - my friends were weirded out but LOVED it.
This may sound like an exaggeration but hear me out - The Condiment Book would not exist without Mexico. Chilies were first cultivated and domesticated in present-day Mexico, the first chili paste and hot sauce were also first made there, and my personal favorite chili, the jalapeño, comes from the state of Veracruz. To top it all off, Caesar dressing was also created in Mexico!
If you want to access my hot sauce trio or candied jalapeño recipes, you can flip to the spicy section in The Condiment Book :) + USA version
Although it’s obvious that we all have different spice tolerance, I personally believe this changes depending on the region. By this I simply mean that if you grew up eating a lot of Thai food, you’re probably more accustomed to Thai space and heat levels. On the other hand, if you grew up in Jamaica, your taste buds are most likely used to Scotch Bonnets! Since I grew up in LA, I am used to both Mexican and Japanese spice but have a much harder time tolerating spicy Indian or Chinese food.
The Condiment Book Excerpts
Although I can’t keep posting recipes from my upcoming book - oops but you can find my shallot tarte tatin recipe here which I sneakily revealed last week - I did want to share some history, photos, and doodles from TCB 2.0 to show you the chili pepper’s range and uses around the world. Enjoy!
The History of Hot Sauce
Hot sauce and spicy condiments are the ones can’t live without, even if you have no idea why you love them quite so much. They cause pain, sweats, and ringing ears—and yet you can’t get enough.
Spice is not a taste; rather, it is a response to endorphin and dopamine release caused by capsaicin, the component of chile peppers that triggers the sensation of heat in the body. Although many believe the heat comes from the chile’s seed, the capsaicin is actually located in those white membranes surrounding them. So yes, if you bite on a seed, it will most likely be spicy, but that’s only because it’s been attached to that spongy white lining.
The proliferation of hot sauces in recent years might suggest that the incendiary condiments are a relatively recent innovation. But in fact, the first recorded reference to a condiment ever was chile paste in 7000 BCE Mesoamerica. Since chile-based condiments have been around so long, their histories are complex, their uses diverse, and their impact on society enormous. Used as a means of torture and healing, as a currency, and to contribute flavor to food, the chile pepper pervades many periods of history and flourishes in so many distinct geographical regions that it is indispensable to almost every food culture. The chile pepper isn’t necessary to the human body for its calories or nutrients, it’ssimply enjoyed for its flavor and piquant properties. It’s not about survival. It’s about our love for the sensations it provides.
The first form of hot sauce was most likely a simple chile paste made of mashed chile and water. Nothing elaborate, just a purely delicious mix. This paste, however, was not used solely as a condiment. The Aztecs used their native peppers to exert power and dominance. They burned chiles to create a pepper smokescreen, similar to a pepper spray today, that could completely debilitate their enemies, blinding and suffocating them. Ironically, soldiers commonly carried chile peppers to use for food when they weren’t using them as a part of their personal arsenal. At home, children who misbehaved were commonly placed above a smoking chile or forced to eat them raw.
Measuring Spice—The Scoville Heat Unit
In 1912, while searching for a recipe to create a heat-inducing ointment, pharmacist Wilbur Scoville invented a method to measure and categorize spice levels in chiles. If you’re a hot sauce fan, you probably are familiar with the Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) scale for chiles. It measures how much the capsaicin in a chile needs to be diluted by sugar water in order to neutralize its heat. For example, the sweet (and not at all spicy) bell pepper has 0 SHU, whereas the Carolina Reaper chile’s SHU is over 1,400,000 (ouch).
Even if you don’t consider yourself a hot sauce aficionado, there is probably some capsaicin lurking in your kitchen. The chart below ranks common chiles from least to most capsaicin so you can pick your poison advisedly!
What is your favorite spice? your favorite chili pepper? your favorite hot sauce? what do you love most about spicy food? what don’t you like about it?? Let me know below in the comments. As always, I love hearing from you!
Gentle reminder that if you preorder TCB 2.0, you can receive free stickers and join a zoom Q&A cooking class with me!
Thank you for highlighting the gifts that immigrants have made to cuisine and culture in the United States.