Feature Product:
Lava Gourmet Hot SauceGo with the flow! Rather than an all-out assault of nothing but heat and vinegar, Lava Hot Sauce sneaks up on you with a pleasant initial sweetness, followed by the taste of fresh herbs...and then comes the heat. Hoo-boy!
Made by the Luna-tics at Loco Luna, it's substantial enough (but not overly thick - and certainly not chunky) to be great as an ingredient in your favorite recipes, or as a "pour on" sauce with most any dish. Read More
Feature Article:
The Origins of Chile PeppersBy Eric Vinje, Cosmic Chile
Christopher Columbus didn't just sail the ocean blue and discover the New World in 1492 while trying to find a short cut to the East Indies. He sampled a plant, thought it was a relative of the black pepper, and dubbed it a "pepper."
So began several hundred years of misinformation about chile peppers. Unlike what Christopher Columbus thought, they aren't related to black pepper and they didn't originate in India.
Hot peppers actually came from somewhere in South America. There they were known as Aji [technically there should an accent over the "I" leaning towards the right]. Chile peppers, which hail from the genus Capsicum are not related to black pepper. Instead they are members of the nightshade (Solanaceae) family and are related to tomatoes, cherries and eggplant.
"Well into the 19th century, most Europeans continued to believe that peppers were native to India and the Orient, until Alphonse de Candolle, a botanist, produced convincing linguistic evidence for the South America origin of the genus Capsicum," states MSN.com's Foodies Corner.
Whether you call them aji or chile peppers, these plants were likely first cultivated as early as 5000 BC. By 1492, Native Americans had domesticated at least four species. In the West Indies, Columbus found several different capsicums cultivated by the Arawak Indians.
Columbus might not have been right about the origins, but he did help popularize chile peppers. (A chile by any other name will be just as hot, right?) Read More
Chile Pepper Fact #28.Chile peppers are cholesterol free, low in sodium and calories, rich in Vitamins A and C, and a good source of folic acid, potassium and Vitamin E.
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