Capsicum - Cuisine

Cuisine

Capsicum fruits and peppers can be eaten raw or cooked. Those used in cooking are generally varieties of the C. annuum and C. frutescens species, though a few others are used as well. They are suitable for stuffing with fillings such as cheese, meat or rice.

They are also frequently used both chopped and raw in salads, or cooked in stir-fries or other mixed dishes. They can be sliced into strips and fried, roasted whole or in pieces, or chopped and incorporated into salsas or other sauces, of which they are often a main ingredient.

They can be preserved in the form of a jam, or by drying, pickling or freezing. Dried peppers may be reconstituted whole, or processed into flakes or powders. Pickled or marinated peppers are frequently added to sandwiches or salads. Frozen peppers are used in stews, soups, and salsas. Extracts can be made and incorporated into hot sauces.

The Spanish conquistadores soon became aware of the culinary properties of chilli and brought it back to Europe, together with cocoa, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tobacco, maize, beans and turkeys. They also brought it to the Spanish Philipinnes colonies, from where they spread to Asia. The Portuguese brought them to their African and Asiatic possessions like India.

All the varieties were appreciated, but the hot ones are particularly appreciated because they can enliven otherwise monotonous diets. This was of some importance during dietary restrictions for religious reasons, like Lent in Christian countries.

Spanish cuisine soon benefited from the discovery of chiles in the New World, and it would be very difficult to untangle Spanish cooking from chiles, garlic and olive oil. Ground chiles, or paprika, hot or otherwise, are a key ingredient in chorizo, which is then called picante (if hot chilli are added) or dulce (if otherwise). Paprika is also an important ingredient in rice dishes, and plays a definitive role in squid Galician style (pulpo a la gallega). Chopped chilli are used in fish or lamb dishes like ajoarriero or chilindrón. Pisto is a vegetarian stew with chilies and zucchini as main ingredients. They can also be added, finely chopped, to gazpacho as a garnish. In some regions bacon is salted and dusted in paprika for preservation. Cheese can also be rubbed with paprika to lend it flavour and colour. Dried round chilli called ñoras are used for "arroz a banda".

According to Richard Pankhurst, C. frutescens (known as barbaré) was so important to the national cuisine of Ethiopia, at least as early as the 19th century, "that it was cultivated extensively in the warmer areas wherever the soil was suitable." Although it was grown in every province, barbaré was especially extensive in Yejju, "which supplied much of Showa as well as other neighbouring provinces." He mentions the upper Golima river valley as being almost entirely devoted to the cultivation of this plant, where it was harvested year round.

In 2005, a poll of 2,000 people revealed the capsicum pepper to be Britain's 4th favourite culinary vegetable.

In Hungary, sweet yellow peppers - along with tomatoes - are the main ingredient of lecsó.

In Bulgaria, South Serbia and Macedonia, peppers are very popular, too. They can be eaten in salads, like Shopska Salata; fried and then covered with a dip of tomato paste, onions, garlic, and parsley; or stuffed with a variety of products—like minced meat and rice, beans, or cottage cheese and eggs. Peppers are also the main ingredient in the traditional tomato and pepper dip—lyutenitsa and ajvar. They are in the base of different kinds of pickled vegetables dishes—turshiya.

Peppers are also used widely in Italian cuisine and the hot species are used all around the southern part of Italy as a common spice (sometimes served with olive oil). Capsicum peppers are used in many dishes; they can be cooked by themselves in a variety of ways (roasted, fried, deepfried) and are a fundamental ingredient for some delicatessen specialities, like Nduja.

Capsicums are also used extensively in Sri Lankan cuisine as side dishes.

The Maya and Aztec people of Central America used Capsicum fruit in cocoa drinks as a flavouring.