CHILES and "CAPSICUMS" / NEW WORLD HISTORY

CHILES or "CAPSICUM" but not Pepper

• CHILES .... were being used for many applications in the new world long before Columbus and the Conquistadors arrived. They are of the CAPSICUM and not the pepper family at all. Due to their pungency Columbus mistook them for what he was actually looking for, and called them peppers, " the spice of the Indies".
• CONFUSION .... exists about the word or name chiles as a result of Columbus' error of "discovery". Some experts claim the word pepper should never be used with the name of a chile and others say just the opposite. Below is a table trying to define and clear up some of the confusion.....just be warned that depending on the literature and author there is great variation in the terms used to refer to the various chile varieties. When the word "pepper" is added the confusion increases and the clarity diminishes because the actual heat producing ingredient contained in the chiles is an alkaloid called "Capsaicin" .

  TERM	DEFINITION
  chile or chiles (plural)	- Refers to the fruit of the Capsicum plant. - Available fresh, dried, smoked, pickled, canned or in powder form. - Flavor has been described as nutty, fruity, chocolate-like, etc. - There are over 100 types in Latin and South America alone and close to 200 types world wide.
  Chile	When capitalized usually refers to the South American country which borders on Peru.
  Peppers	In common usage of today means the Fruit of the Capsicum plant in general, may be sweet or hot and can include Chiles, which are often called Chile-Peppers.
  Chili or Chilies (plural)	A dish made with beef, beans and chiles along with other ingredients. This dish, a poor man's treat, originated in Texas and not Mexico, around the early 19th. century. In the 1880's it appeared in homes in San Antonio, Texas. Chili Powder (not in any way a substitute for authentic powdered chiles like chiles ancho or mulato or pasillas) was invented by a German-Texan in 1892.

• ALL .... of the above points will be further explained and elaborated on in more detail in other sections of this document.