Fall - The Chile Pepper Institute

The
VOLUME Ill NUMBER 2
FALL, 1993
Chle Institute
Hot Peppers Are
For the Birds
id capsaicin evolve to protect chile peppers
mammalian predators? That's the theory
of Dr. Michael Nee of the New York Botanical
Garden. Scientists have long speculated that plants
produce secondary metabolites, chemicals that are
not required for the primary life support of the plant.
411,These metabolites fight
off animal predaI
1
tors and perhaps
even competing
In the journal
HerbalGrarn, Nee
y
speculates that the
capsaicin in chiles
may be such a
metabolite. It prevents animals from eat-
red fruits with small seeds. Mammals perceive a
burning sensation from capsaicin but birds do not.
The seeds pass through the birds' digestive tract
intact and encased in a perfect natural fertilizer.
Many experts believe that the wild chiltepin (C. annuurn var. apiculare) was spread by this method from
South America to what is now the U.S.-Mexico border.
The common name for many of the wild Capsicums
is 'bird peppers," and they are usually small pods
that are borne erect on the plant. During the summer
of 1993, Dave DeWitt grew eight varieties of bird pepThe Iewdetwr
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pers in his Albuquerque garden. In the accompanying photo, note the similarities of pod sizes and
shapes. They are, clockwise starting from 12 o'clock:
Malagueta (C.fmfesm), Brazil
Chiltepin (C. annuum), Arizona
C. chacoense, South America
Chiltepin (C. annuum), Sonora, Mexico
Pimenta do Cheiro (C. chinense), Brazil
C. chinense, Brazil
Bird pepper (C. annuurn), Trinidad
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Mission
Statement
Approved
T
he Board of Directors of The
Chile Institute has ap roved
its eylaws, which J u d e 8
the following mission statement:
The Chile Institute is to enrich
peoples' lives by sharing the wonder of chiles (genusCup-).
The purpose is to accomplish the
following goals.
0 To become the international
repository for information about
chiles (Capsicum).
0 To encourage and support
further research of chile
(Capsicum).
0 To promote awareness and
consumption of chile (Capsicum).
0 To build an international
center for public education about
chiles (Capsicum).
0 To support the preservation
of chile (Cupsicum) germplasm.
0 To become a resource for
the chile (Capsicum) foods industries.
Chile Institute to
Host National
Pepper Conference
The Chile Institute will be one
of the hosts of the 12thBiannual
National Pepper Co.nfim?nce,to
be held in Las cmces, New
Mexico on August 1416,1994.
In addition to the scientific and
popular lectwes and dernonstrations, agricultural tom of chile
fields and processing plants
planned. The keynote speaker
WillbechilepepperexpertDr.
Paul Smith, professor emeritus
of the University of CaliforniaDavis. For further information,
contact Javier Vhrgas,National
P percollferenCe,150 w.
Iastruces, New
Mexico 88005, (505) 5254649,
FAX (505) 525-6652.
LL
'Aessage from the
Director
h
"Please Renew Your
Membership!"
by Dr. Paul W. Bosland
our membership during the past year has supported the
activities of The Chile Institute. I hope that you have also
enjoyed the newsletter, decals, and exotic seeds. Remember
that your membership dues and contributions to The Chile
Institute are tax deductible. During the past two years, more than
350 fellow chile lovers have joined The Chile Institute, and they are
helping to further our cultural, educational, and scientific objectives.
The success of The Chile Institute depends on your membership
and others like yourself joining. plea& take a few minutes and send us vour check to renew vour membershiv. I would love to
see our membership double iext year. To in6oduce friends and
associates, simply enter their names and addresses onto the membership form &ide the directory.
There are two very specific reasons why you should renew. First,
renewing will help us achieve our goal of establishing the
Internation Center for Chile (ICC), incorporating the concept of a
chile pepper museum, which is obviously a very expensive undertaking. Second, we are expanding both the size and frequency of
this newsletter. It will be twice the size (starting with this issue)
and will be a quarterly publication in 1994. This expansion will
give us the opportuniqto present more information to our members.
I sincerely believe that our members are our partners in The Chile
Institute. We encourage you to send us your suggestions on building a better Institute. The enclosed membership directory was
inspired by one our our member's suggestions.
A renewal to The Chile Institute means that you will be helping
to bring Capsicums the glory and recognition they deserve. Thank
you for your help and continued support.
Y
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Home Drying
and Storage of
Capsicums
Ed
ach ear gardeners call The
e Institute and New
Mexico State University
with questions about Capsicum
drying and storage. Many
Capsicum pod types are suited to
dryin and storage at home,
inclu& New Mexican, ancho,
pasilla, cayenne, mirasol, de
arbol, and piquin. For all these
chile types, allow the fruit to partially dry on the plant without
becoming sunburned or diseased.
This will maximize color and flavor. Harvest only high quality
chile, and the postharvest ahelf
life will be prolonged.
Before selecting a drying
method, consider your crop yield,
planned use for the chile, and any
climate or time constraints. New
Mexicans have sun-drjed their
chilecrops for centuries by
leading the pods on rooftops or
g racks or by stringin the
ods Wo *12s. Chile
gin cloudier, more humid
environments will need a different approach, namely the oven.
As an alternative, a solar dryer
can be constructed rather simply
and inexpensively A solar
consists of black lastic streZ d
over a frame ma with metal
hoops or bent
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dryer remains open, while a small
fan is installed at the other end to
pull air through the tunnel. An
alternative design has a solar collector facing south with racks
behind it holding the chiles (see
photo). The heated air rises
through the racks and dries the
Continued on next page.
A solar dryerjbr chiltepins in La Aurora, Sonora, Mexico.
cent of their color. general, the
cooler the storage temperature
(without freezing), the longer the
shelf-life. Storage at 35 to 40
degrees P.(2-5 degrees C.) in the
dark is optimal, but the average
refrigerator temperature (50
degrees F.) will suffice. An airtight
container is necessary because
chiles stored in the refrigerator
can absorb moisture. Glass jars,
10 percent for storage. At that percentage of moisture, the pigments
become more quickly oxidized,
and the color fades; at higher
moisture contents (15-20 percent),
molds are able to grow on the
pods. Molds can also form on
pods when the atmospheric relative humidity exceeds 80 percent.
Carotenoids are the major pigments responsible for chile color,
Drying Capsicums, continued
fian p r h s page.
chiles.
Select an appropriate drying
method for your area, wash the
chiles, and spread them on trays
for drying. Mesh or wire trays
work best for air circulation
around the pods. If you plan to
grind the chiles into powder,
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remove the seeds and stems for
the highest color, and slice the
chiles in half lengthwise for faster
drying. However, keep in mind
that whole pods retain color and
flavor during storage better than
powder or flakes.
When using an oven for dehydration, set the temperature at 150
degrees F. (65 degrees C.). Higher
temperatures caramelize the sugars in the chiles, giving them a
brown color and burned flavor.
Most chile has a 65-80 percent
moisture content at the optimum
harvest stage, and when dried has
a final moisture content of about
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and they are highly sensitive to
oxidative degradation. For this
reason, Capsicum need protection
from light, oxygen, and moisture
during storage. Pungency will
also decrease during the storage
of chiles, although this is less of a
problem than color fading.
Storage temperature has the
greatest Muence on color retention and quality, more so than
exposure to light or air, choice of
container, of whether the pods are
whole or ground. In fact,some
chiles stored for a year at room
temperature can lose over 60 per-
"I.
tins, or plastic tubs are suitable.
Plastic bags are not recommended
for storage. Finally, if chiles are
not stored under refrigeration, be
sure to select a cool, dry, and dark
area protected from insects and
mdents.
Dr. Wall is a postharvest physiologist with the Deparhmt of
Agronomy and Horticulhcre, New
Mexico State University
7
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z Chile Institute has just
received the latest import
!
statistics from the Foreign
Agricultural Service of the USDA,
and once again Capsicum imports,
including paprika, have soared.
In 1992,29,989.7 metric tons of
Capsicums were imported, with a
dollar value of $60.4 million dollars. These data represent a 39.5
percent increase in tonnage and a
41.7 percent increase in dollar
value over the 1991figures. Top
countries exporting hot peppers
to the U.S. were Mexico, India,
Pakistan, Costa Rica, China,
Chile, Hong Kong, and Thailand,
in that order. Top exporters of
paprika were Spain, Morocco,
and Israel.
Capsicum exports are up too. In
1992, the United States exported
3,275.5 metric tons worth $8.9
million dollars, an increase of 668
metric tons and $2.3 million dollars. The top importing countries
of U.S. Capsicums were Canada
and Mexico.
However, despite the encouraging increase in exports, the difference between the dollar value of
Capsicum imports and exports
(the "Balance of Chiles Deficit")
rose to $51.5 million, a 43 percent
increase over 1991. In 1988, the
deficit was $12.4 million, and in
1991it was $36.1 million.
These figures point out both the
increased American consumption
of Capsicums and the opportunities for American growers of
Capsicums. United States domestic production has been unable to
meet the enormous consumer
demand for chile peppers and
paprika.
e There, Anyway?
S
usan Hazen-Hammond, a member of The Chile Institute's advisory board, sendsin the following report:
While I was doing research for the book Chile
Pepper Fever:Mine's Hotter Than Yours, I discovered that chile scholars disagree on how to
divide the genus Capsicum into species. Dr. W.
Hardy Eshbaugh at Miami University in
Oxford, Ohio, suggested I contact Armando
T. Hunziker, an Argentine scholar who has
worked for more than twenty years on a
definitive book on Capsicum taxonomy.
Since I was going to Argentina anyway, I
detoured over to the city of Cordoba to see
Hunziker. Now 74, Hunziker retired officially from teaching twelve years ago, but he
continues to work full time at the University
of Cordoba on his taxonomic studies of
Capsicum and related genera.
Says Hunziker, "I think there's been a tendency
to exaggerate numbers. I expect to come out in favor
of fewer than twenty Capsicum species, including both wild and
domesticated Capsicums." He believes that domesticated Capsicums can
properly be divided into only three species: C. baccatum, C. pubescens,
and C. annuum. In this schema,both Capsicum
frutescens (which includes Tabasco peppers) and
Capsicum chinme (which includes the wildly
popular Habaneros) would be reclassified as C.
In developing criteria for determining
species, Hunziker and his colleague and coauthor, Dr. Gloria Barboza, look at such seldom-studied aspects of Capsicums as structural differences in the seeds and hairs.
Hunziker, who hopes to complete and
publish his work within the next yea.or
two, says, "I've been reluctant to finish it
until I was absolutely certain. Capsicum is
the most difficult genus I've ever encountered. That's what first got me interested in
it fifty years ago."
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New, Updated Bibliography Available
~eChile Institute has publit !dtwo
bibliographies devoted to the study of
Chile Peppem: A Selected Bibliographj
of the Capsicums,
PePPerS*
Ca sicum: A Comprehensive
l liography,
Bi!
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by Paul W. Bosland, has
recently been updated
by the indusion of 350
more citati0118. It now
containsabout5poo
technicalcitationsin
thirteencategories
including taxonomy
genetics,breeding, biochembtq, production,
and disorders. It is
available on 3.5-inch
diskette, 5.25-inch
diskette, or hard copy
for $50 postpaid.
L-
by David A. DeWitt, has more than 1,100 citations
-
Capsicum:
A Con,prcbcnsive Bibliography
by Paill W. Bosland
rjmarily concerned with non-technical articles and
!oob on the history and culinary arts of C a p 8 h n s ,
with other sections on gardening and
rmtrition/medicine. It is available
on 3.5-inch
diskette, 5.25-inch
c)iIi.~
PEI3PI;RS: .annn.
&*,
or
copy for
$20 postpaid.
Persons wishing to
order bibliographies
should indicate format
d h d , makechecksout
to NMSU
Poundation/Chile
Institute, and send them
to The Chile Institute, Box
30003, Dept. 3Q,NMSU,
The
TAS Cruces, N M 88003.
Chile Institute
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For the We,
Dedicated Chile Gardener,
::
we recommend the
four-color book,
P w Diseases: A Field
Guide, which chronicles viruses, bacteria,
fungi,and other noxious infections of the
genus Capsim, with
four-color photos and
suggestions for ossible treatments, 15
postpaid from The
Chile Institute, Box
30003, Dept. 3Q,
NMSU, Las Cruces,
NM 88003
.
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(-'/t.L A 3-d + t l ; ~$2
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t p o r o b - supply.... +hey dovi+
goow well hi5 htgh up.:
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New
Books on
Chiles
v
oyageur Press of
Stillwater, Minnesota
announces the publication
of Chile Pepper Fever:Mine's Hotter
Than Yours. Written by Susan
Hazen-Hammond, a member of
the Advisory Board of The Chile
Institute, the book includes 100
color photos by acclaimed photographer Eduardo Fuss.
Approximately half of the photos
depict hot peppers grown by Dr.
Paul Bosland in his greenhouse
and test plots at New Mexico
State University in Las Cruces.
The hardcover book is $29.95 and
can be ordered by caUing (800)
888-9653.
en Speed Press of Berkeley,
California announces the
publication of The Pepper
Garden by Dave DeWitt and Paul
Bosland, members of the Board of
Directors of The Chile Institute. It
is the first book ever published on
pepper gardening and gives
instructions on all facets of growing, from selecting seed to harvesting. A field guide complete
with photos is also included. The
paperback book is priced at
$14.95 and will be available in
T
IT
he Board of Directors of the Chile Znsitute, during its September
meeting, decided that the term "museum" was not an accurate
descriptor for the permanent facility planned. The Board voted to
change wording of the Mission Statement to read: 'To build an international center for public education about chiles (Capsicum)." It then voted
to name the center 'The International Center for Chile."
The Board then voted unanimously to issue a request for proposal for a
prelrrmnary master plan for the center. When completed, the preliminary
master plan would contain the overall direction and design of the facility-+ necessity for future fundraising to construct the facility.
Seed Sources for
Specialty Peppers
ed for varieties of the species bacuztum, chinense,frutesm, and
C
ubewns is hard to find, but below are some places for the home
L/ gu-dener to begin. To preserve the varieties, growers are asked to
isolate some of their plants by netting or in a greenhouse and to pass
along pure seed to other dedicated pepper gardeners.
The USDA Plant Introduction Station can sometimes fulfill requests for
small amounts of specific seed. Be sure to send as much information as
you can about the variety requested, and always supply a self-addressed,
stamped envelope for the return of seed.
Mr. Gil Lovell
USDA-AR!3 Plant Introduction Station
1109 Experiment St.
GriffinGA
, 30223-1797
The following companies specialize in the seed for unusual varieties of
peppers.
Enchanted Seeds
P.O. Box 6087
Las Cruces, N M 88006
(505) 233-3033
J.L. Hudson, Seedsman
P.O. Box 1058
Redwood City, CA 94064
Old Southwest Trading
Co.
P.O. Box 7545
Albuquerque, NM 87194
(505) 836-0168
Redwood City Seed Co.
P.O. Box 361
Redwood City, C A 94064
Native S ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ S E A R C
H 325-SEED
(415)
W ) 9 N. Campbell Ave.
#325
Shepherd Garden Seeds
Tucson, AZ 85719
6116 Highway 9
(602) 327-9123
Felton, CA 95018
(408) 335-6910
Renew Your Membership or Join the Institute!
1
Members receive a one-year subscription
to our quarterly newsletter, our Chile
Institute decal, seed packets of new varieties, and other M e items.
... ....Cswrleb
Member.... .. ...$25
charter Member...........$50
Mte
MembQ.......S1OO..slm
Corporate IM~~Mx....3,1000(onetime donation)
1 To
Jointhe Institute, simply choose a category and fill out the form below:
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myhe-loving friend:
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The Chile Institute
Box 30003,Dept. 3Q, W
Las Cruces, NM 88003
U
(505) 646-3028
@
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A Non-Profit, International Oqjanization Devoted to the Study of Capsicums
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