SC - Peppers?

[Decker, Terry D.]

There is not a lot readily available on the subject.  Most food histories
tend to date the arrival of capsicums in Eastern Europe to 1526, coinciding
with the Ottoman conquest of most of Hungary, however the actually date of
introduction could be anytime up to around 1621, when the Turks were pushed
out.

The earliest published reference from the area can be found in Leonhard
Fuchs' Primi de Stirpirum published in Basil in 1545.  Fuchs was a physician
and naturalist who was living in Tübingen (south of Stuttgart on the Neckar
River).  There are three plates on pages 425-427, 1) Capsicon rubeum &
nigrum - Roter und brauner Calcutischer Pfeffer, 2) Capsicum oblongius -
Langer Indianische Pfeffer, and 3) Capsicon latum - Breyter Indianische
Pfeffer.  Fuchs appears to have been familiar with the plants, but confused
about their origins.

The fact that Fuchs very carefully and correctly pictures the capsicum
plants suggests that they were available to him and that the 1526 date for
the introduction of the plant into Eastern Europe may be correct.  

If you are interested, Fuchs' work has been webbed at:

http://www.med.yale.edu/library/historical/fuchs/


Capsicums were also reported as being grown in a monastary garden in Brno,
Moravia in 1566, but I haven't found the source of the report.

Bear


> 
> Did anyone ever come to a conclusions as to the possible periodness of
> peppers in Eastern Europe (between 1500 and 1600).
> -- 
> Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise