From Consumerscompare.org
- About 40,000 acres are dedicated to the cultivation of jalapeños in Mexico, primarily in the Papaloapan River basin in the north of the state of Veracruz and in the Delicias, Chihuahua area.
- August 19th is National Hot & Spicy Food Day.
- Nutritionally speaking, Jalapeños are one of the best sources of vitamin C.
- Ancient Aztecs were reportedly the first to use Jalapeños, but they dried and smoked the peppers rather than eating them.
- Jalapeños (Capsicum annuum) are warm-season pepper plants native to Mexico and grown as annuals throughout the American Southwest.
- Although Jalapeños got their name from the town where they originated, Jalapa, Mexico, they are no longer commercially cultivated in that town.
- Jalapeños were the first peppers that travelled into space on a NASA shuttle.
- Smoke-dried jalapeños are known as chipotles.
- Jalapeños are America’s favorite chili pepper.
- Pepper pungency is rated in terms of ‘Scovolle heat units” and jalapeños can range from 2,500 to 10,000 Scoville units.
Example of The Heat Units By Pepper:
- Bell Pepper 0
- Anaheim 500-1000
- Pasilla 1000-1500
- Jalapeño 2500-10,000
- Serrano 5000-15,000
- Yellow Wax 5000-15,000
- Cayenne 30,000-50,000
- Chile Pequin 30,000-50,000
- Habanero 100,000-300,000
Jalapeño History/Mythology
Jalapeños are medium sized chili peppers that are used in many Spanish dishes worldwide. These peppers are between 2-3 inches in length, and they are spicy by nature because of capsicum. According to Colorado State research, Capsicum is derived from the Greek word, kapos, “to bite”. The heat comes from a group of alkaloid chemicals called capsaicinoids, principally capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin. These oily compounds are very soluble in fat and alcohol, but insoluble in water.
When looking back into the history books of how jalapeños were discovered, they have quite a remarkable story. These peppers date as far back as the Aztecs, and they were a staple for the people to smoke with because their skin was so thick. To this day, it is the most commonly grown chili pepper in Mexico, and for good reason!
According to SB Nature, “These “peppers” originated in the New World. Since ancient times, chilies have been essential elements of both food and medicine among indigenous peoples from the American Southwest to South America. Although they first evolved south of Amazonia, chili seeds have been found in cultural deposits more than 9000 years old in the Tehuacan Valley, Mexico.”
Both the Aztec and Mayan people ate chili peppers with nearly everything, and they even used them to smoke as mentioned above. To the people, these peppers were said to cure colds, depression, and give the body overall strength, which made them very popular. For the people who fasted for religious purposes, the fast wasn’t from food and water, but just from eating jalapeño peppers and salt. This goes to show just how much they consumed them, if they used them as the staple “fasting” food ban for all people of the religion. They had other uses as well, for some children they would be punished and fumigated with chili smoke, and around other tribes it was seen to prevent witchcraft. If you did not eat the peppers, you were automatically ruled as a sorcerer.
Now you can readily find jalapeños in every grocery store, garden bed, and Mexican restaurant in the Southwest part of the country, as well as Mexico. Before, they were grown just in Mexico, so getting your hands on one required traveling, but they quickly spread all around the world.
According to SB Nature, “Columbus actually undertook his voyage with the goal of finding a shortcut to the “Spice Islands” of Indonesia, source of spices like nutmeg, mace, and cloves that had been prized throughout Europe for centuries. They helped to mask ‘off’ flavors of food in a time before refrigeration and were also a status symbol: highly spiced foods were a prerogative of the very rich because exotic spices were so expensive and hard to obtain. It was the Portuguese who introduced chilies through their trading activities to Africa, India, and much of Asia.”