BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Mexican Food Chilli - Dynamite in the kitchen

The flavour of the Mesoamerican chilli - spicy, piquant, stimulating, decidedly warm if not downright fiery � reminded Columbus of pepper, a spice more valuable than gold in Europe, which led him to christen it �pepper of the Indies�. He took the seeds home to Spain and from their the chilli set out to conquer the world.


http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art48043.asp

Isabel, superb article.

Every two weeks I go to Zamora's huge market and there are many vendors selling all kinds of fresh and dried chillis.

My favorites are the fresh poblanos which can be either mild or fairly hot (we roast and peel them and then cut them into strips for a variety of preparations) and the canned chipotles which are always very hot and smoky.

Thank you, Les. All the chillies, both dried and fresh, in Mexican markets are a dazzling sight. I am always amazed at the variety, I seem to be constantly discovering new ones. Like you I love the poblanos, as they are so versatile and unlike most other chillies, can act as a vegetable, and certainly chipotles, both en adobo and in powder, are one of my greatest standbys in the kitchen - I use them in all sorts of different cuisines, not just Mexican, for instance when a recipe calls simply for "chilli powder", out comes the chipotle!

Thank you, Carlos. I did a bit of a reconnoitre before writing the article, and virtually everybody I asked thought that chillies originated in Asia.... Les likes to make his poblanos into rajas - what is your favourite way of cooking/eating them?