Some people think salsa is a dance, while others say it's a style of music. But the literal translation from Spanish is "sauce." Salsa picante is pungent and sassy with fire of varying intensity, depending on the chili peppers and how many are used. In fact, without the chilies, its hard to imagine salsa south of the border in any form-liquid, musical, or dancing.
Chilies are believed to be indigenous to Brazil, but they have been grown throughout Central and South America for centuries. Brazil still raises one of the hottest peppers that has ever passed over a palate: the tiny, needle-shaped malagueta, a berry that makes you beg for mercy. Mexico alone raises sixty-one varieties of chilies.
Christopher Columbus encountered chilies on his first voyages to Hispaniola, the island that today holds the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Indeed historians hold Columbus responsible for confusing chilies, members of the genus Capsicum, with peppers, members of the genus Piper. It is a confusion that persists today, but is by no means the only one surrounding these fiery fruits. Even etymologists are divided on the origin of the word capsicum. Some say it deserves from the Latin capsa, meaning, "box,' a description of the fruits fleshy walls that encase the seeds. Other authorities relate the word more closely to the greek capto,meaning "I bite."
But in all fairness, chilies only bite if you bite first-directly into the seeds and white membrane that runs the length of the pepper's interior. Remove those "teeth" and you're left with crisp, zesty flesh, fiery enough to make your face flush without making your eyes and nose run.
You can tell how strong a fresh pepper is as soon as you cut into it. It will smell pungent. If your nose tells you the flesh itself is too strong, the heat can be tamed by "soaking the flesh in cold, salted water or water with vinegar, about one tablespoon to two cups," according to Elizabeth Lambert Ortiz, "for an hour, or longer if the chilli is especially picante."
The pepper's bite comes from the chemical capsaicin, a colorless phenolic amide that abides in the seeds and membrane. The capsaicin can be so fierce that cooks with sensitive skin should handle peppers only while wearing rubber gloves. Hands should be kept away from noses, eyes, and lips to avoid hellish irritation, and hands should be washed with lots of hot, soapy water immediately after working with the chilies.
Are chillies worth all this trouble? From a nutritional point of view, yes. Peppers are rich sources of vitamins A and C, the quantities of which increase as the green fruit ripens to red or yellow.
Medical researchers in Thailand have discovered that a chilli a day may keep blood clots away. Capsaicin appears to protect the body against thromboembolism, the blockage of a blood vessel by a clot in the bloodstream. The Thais, like many people who live in tropical and subtropical climates, like their food hot and spicy-not so much from a concern with thromboembolism as from relief from a steamy climate. Somehow, the heat from the peppers makes the heat of the sun more tolerable. And all this for less than 10 calories and 85 to 100 milligrams of sodium per half-ounce serving of
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