[Sca-cooks] re:long peppers, etc.

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On May 9, 2006, at 10:26 AM, Marcha wrote:

> Personally I detest the current trend in spicing up practically  
> everything!  Not only do I feel it simply disguises the taste of  
> the food you are eating and all you can taste is the hot spice but  
> I happen to be allergic to capsaicin.

As I've gotten older I've realized there's more to a chile pepper  
than its Scoville Heat Index. I can still eat a raw Scotch Bonnet,  
but nobody wants to bet on it any more. But as it happens, long  
peppers are peppercorns, and aren't all that hot, and contain no  
capsaicin. They just taste like an unusually aromatic and subtle  
version of black pepper.

One of my big pet peeves is artificially flavored hot sauces that  
contain straight capsaicin.

> Makes me wonder how many other folk have the same feelings/problelm  
> that I have?
> Bertha

I think that the lines between sensitivities, intolerances, and  
allergies are being largely redrawn by the medical community, and  
there may be more people finding themselves "officially allergic" to  
chiles, either because of this change in some of the definitions, and  
also because regional foods are now pretty much spread all over the  
world to a greater extent. Once upon a time there were probably a lot  
of people in, say, Maine or Wisconsin, who never knew they were  
allergic to chiles, but for whom it wasn't an issue, since they  
didn't grow them, stores didn't sell them, and restaurants didn't  
serve them.

Adamantius



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