That certainly don't
give you a chill! Guaranteed to drive the cold our chillies are
really hot and sizzling.
But for its association with us, the chilly is not a native of
India. It is an exotic from South America and was spread across
the rest of the world by Spanish explorers and conquerors. The
people of Peru
called the condiment uchu and the
Mayans used it as a medicine for stomach ailments. The "sting"
in the ginger ale and ginger beer is produced by the pungent
ingredients in chillies. And as everyone who has patronized a
pizza parlour knows, Italian dishes use a great deal of "pizza
pepper" or "peperone rosso" crushed, red chillies.
The foreigner now is more
homegrown than any native. The chilli is a very adaptable plant
responding with great flexibility to varying environmental
conditions. In India chillies is grown throughout the year in
different parts of the country. India is today the biggest
producer and consumer of chillies in the world. Indian farmers
grow all varieties from low heat paprikas to one having
extremely high pungency/ heat as much as over 120000 shu.
Dhani harvested from October to
December comes from Mizoram and Manipur and is available in
Calcutta market. Bydagi harvested from January to May is grown
in Dharwar, Karnataka. It is Ellachipur Sannam from Maharashtra
and Jwala from Gujarat, which are harvested from September to
December.
State of Andhra Pradesh, known for
some of the hottest summers also accounts for the largest
share of Red Hot Chillies. Guntur is famous for S4 type
thick skin, hot and red chillies harvested from December to
May.
