By Janis McPhilomy
Contributing research by José Luis Guzman
As early as 7000 BC native Indians
in the New World were eating the wild "chiltecpin" (piquín) pepper.
This is a small and very pungent chile eaten like peanuts today only by the
brave. It is believed that chile peppers were domesticated between 5200 and 3400
B.C. by nomadic Indians dependent on the harvesting of wild plants for more than
half of their food.
Chile peppers were first cultivated in South America around 2300 BC by the Incas
who called them "Uchu" in the Quechua language and "Huayca"
in the Aymara language. The Incas worshipped the chile pepper as one of the holy
plants and used it to represent the teachings of the early kings.
Before 1500 B.C. chiles traveled north into Mexico and gained the reputation as
a spicy condiment, becoming an important part of the native diet. Around this
time the Olmecs, one of the first agricultural tribes, settled in what is now
Veracruz in Mexico.
At about 500 B.C. the Monte Alban culture of the Zapotec Indians from the valley
of Oaxaca, Mexico, began exporting to neighbouring tribes the "Suchilquitongo"
bowls that resemble the handheld mortars or molcajetes. These bowls are believed
to be the first evidence that people crushed chiles for chile powder.
When the Mayas reached the peak of their civilization about 500 A.D. in southern
Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula. They were growing many different varieties of
chiles, an important ingredient in the Mayan diet. They used chiles in almost
every meal, from breakfast, which was a hot cereal of ground maize spiced with
chile peppers called atole or pozol, to the evening meal of various stews spiced
with chiles.
The Aztec were the last agricultural tribe to arrive in the area of Mexico City
around 1200 A.D. The marketplaces of the Aztec overflowed with chiles of all
shapes and sizes and many colors. They called this pungent fruit "chillis"
in the Nahuatl language, which referred to both the red and green chile peppers.
Diego Alvarez Chanca, a physician
on Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies in 1493, brought the first chile
peppers back to Spain, and was the first to write about their medicinal effects
in 1494.
For more information, read Janis
McPhilomy's full article.
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