The Many Uses of Chili Peppers

Most people know chili peppers as that spicy, goo covered red stick in their Chinese food. You might also know it as that powder in your curry, or used in the oil on your spicy fish. Chili peppers are a delicious, yet amazingly spicy addition to foods worldwide.

For thousands of years, the chili pepper has been a domesticated and cultivated crop in Central and South America. Chili peppers may even have been the first "spice" vegetable/fruit to ever have been domesticated. This isn't surprising, as humans were keen on the nutritional values of the foods they ate in more ancient times, and could have easily noticed the health benefits from eating the spicy pepper. Chili peppers are high in vitamin C and also contain a small amount of natural anti-inflammatory agents.

Chili peppers are very popular among birds, and it's quite lucky that they are. Most wild chili peppers were once seeds that were eaten and carried away by all species of birds throughout Central, South, and even North America. The plant became rather widespread over time and is now used in recipes all over the world, and in familiar dishes on the American continents.

These versatile, spicy peppers are used in many popular dishes that we eat on a regular basis. Chili peppers are used in some of the most common foods we eat today every day, like salsa, pico de gallo, in countless brands of hot sauce, and many mixes and powders used in making curry. Varieties of chili peppers are used in popular cultural dishes, such as Indian Paneer, Creole Jumbalaya and many kinds of southwestern Chili, the most aptly named of all the foods containing the hot pepper. Chili peppers also have medicinal value, as they are believed to have been used in ancient times as well as today as a source of heart attack prevention. They are also said to aid circulation, cure a nasty sore throat, and help you digest the food you're eating. Chili peppers have also been known to cure the average hangover.

The element inside chili peppers that makes them so spicy is called Capsaicin, and it's been known to help fight health issues that are becoming more common in the US. Capsaicin has been used against pain and aching in your joints and muscles, headaches, ulcers, dry skin, heavy bleeding, toothaches, and even has been proven to fight against prostate cancer. In recent studies, chili peppers have begun to form a name for themselves as a powerful aid in weight loss.

Though some people find the taste of chili peppers unbearable and basically inedible, the benefits from eating them might be enough to overcome the common distaste for them.