Chile Pepper Institute

The Volu~neXI, Nu~iiber2, Winter 2000/200 1 Chile Pepper Institute E-mail : [email protected] The Chiles of Mole Paul W. Bosland The region of cent...
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Volu~neXI, Nu~iiber2, Winter 2000/200 1

Chile Pepper Institute E-mail : [email protected]

The Chiles of Mole Paul W. Bosland The region of central Mexico that includes the cities of Puebla and Oaxaca is known as the Land of the Seven Moles, and is where Mole, the classic sauce of Mexico, was born. Mole is served to honored guests at weddings, fiestas, and holidays including Cinco de Mayo which means "The Fifth of May" in English. Cinco de Mayo marks the anniversary of Mexico's stunning victory over the French at a hill on the outskirts of Puebla. The holiday is celebrated throughout Mexico and in many cities in the United States. In the U.S., mole is often perceived as a chocolate flavored chile sauce. The term mole is a derivation &omthe word 'molli', which means "concoction" or "mixture." Other translations include "sauce" and

Ancho, driedform of the poblano, remains red a$er drying

Inside..... Prqmhg Chiles.......................................... Ekphmt &pellent ......................................4 Capgiam Hews.. ........................................6 . .

Mulato (left) & PPalla (right), both are dark brown, almost black when dried

"gravy." Not all moles contain chocolate, but if there is chocolate in a mole sauce it is probably one of many ingredients. A typical mole may have ten or more ingredients. Some of the more popular mole sauces contain pumpkin seeds, cloves, allspice, peanuts, almonds, and sesame seeds. Additionally chile, chicken, and other poultry broth can be found in a typical mole. There are many moles including mole rojo (red mole), mole de olla (generally contains chocolate), and mole negro de Oaxaca (Oaxacan black mole) to name a few. The chiles ancho, mulato, and pasilla, are said to make up the "holy trinity" of a mole sauce. The three pod types were developed in pre-Columbian times and there is much confhsion with the names of these particular chiles. For example, sometimes the mulato is mistaken for the pasilla. The true Bear Repellent............................................5 Burning Questions......................................10 Great Year for Chile...................................11

pasilla is a long slender dried pepper pod that is cylindrical and undulating. Pasillas are dark green until they turn brown at maturity and the green form is called "chilaca" in the Mexican marketplace. Other confusion exists because the mulato is shaped very much like the ancho, but is dark brown to black at maturity and has a much different flavor. The ancho is heart shaped, pointed, thin-walled, and goes fiom green to a rich red color at maturity. The ancho is the sweetest of the three peppers and is said to have prune, raisin, and coffee overtones. The mulato has a smokier, liquorice, and wood flavor. The ancho, mulato and pasilla are all referred to as poblanos in the U.S. before reaching maturity. Mexican chile experts believe technically that the poblano is a specific ancho grown in the region of Puebla, Mexico.

Preparing dried Ancho, Mulato and Pasilla chiles 7. Roasting the dried chiles lightly, taking care not to burn them, brings out the flavor and is worth the extra work. Heat a cast-iron fiying pan to medium heat and place the chiles on it. Press the pods to the pan with a wooden spoon or your hand. When the chiles become plump and soften, remove. Do not let them become crisp. This should take only a few minutes. Next remove the stems and seeds.

Fresh Poblano Chile, red in color

. The chiles can be soaked in water to aid in removing the skin and for pureeing. Moles are not simple. However, Dr. Paul Bosland provides us with his "simple" mole sauce. He says this is a good starter recipe. On the following pages are a few more traditional recipes.

"Simple" Mole Sauce 2 mulato chiles 2 pasilla chiles 4 ancho chiles 1 onion 2 garlic cloves 2 tomatoes 2 ibs. sesame seeds 54 cup almonds 1 corn tortilla, torn into strips 114 cup raisins 114 tsp ground cloves 114 tsp ground cinnamon 114 tsp. ground coriander 3 tbs. olive oil 1 cup chicken broth 1 o z bitter chocolate (or 2ibs. Baking cocoa)

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Combine chiles, onions, garlic, tomatoes, 1 tbs. Sesame seeds, almonds, tortilla strips, raisins, cloves, cinnamon and coriander. Puree small amounts of mixture in a blender until smooth. Heat oil in a skillet and saute the puree for 10 min, stirring frequently. Add chicken broth and chocolate and cook over very low heat for 45 min. The sauce should be very thick. Remaining sesame seeds are used for a garnish. When the sauce is cool, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This makes enough mole for several meals. Place % to 1 cup on two cut up chicken breasts and bake for 45 min. The Chile Pepper Institute Newsletter

Mark Miller, member of The Chile Pepper Institute and founder of the Coyote Cafe' and Red Sage restaurants, provides us with the red mole recipe fiom his book, Coyote Caf6 (Ten Speed Press). Miller states that the chocolate used in this

recipe balances the sharp acidic flavors of the tomatoes and tomatillos and the dry h i t ingredients enhance the plum or prune flavors of the ancho and mulato chiles. Mole rojo is traditionally served with fowl, in this case turkey.

Red Mole 10 ancho chiles 6 pasilla chiles 2 qts. water 8 mulato chiles 4 tornatillos 5 roma tomatoes % cup raisins (prunes or dried cherries) 113 cup sesame seeds !4 CUP whole almonds 1 tbs. peanut oil 2 corn tortillas, dried in oven and chopped 6 garlic cloves, roasted & peeled 2 cups brown duck stock or chicken stock 4 tsp. Canela (or 2 tsp cinnamon) 118 tsp ground cloves % tsp ground black pepper % tsp ground allspice 1 tsp salt 3 oz Mexican Ibarra chocolate

2 oz unsweetened chocolate 3 tbs duck fat (or peanut oil) Blacken tomatillos & tomatoes in a skillet (5-min). Soak raisins in warm water until soft (about 20 min) discard water; dry-roast sesame seeds for 5 min until finished popping; do no allow seeds to burn. SautC almond in oil over low to medium heat until browned. Puree the tomatillos in a blender to form a paste. Add chiles, raisins, garlic, stock, spices, and slat and puree together. Melt chocolate and blend into the mixture. Add the duck fat to a high-sided pan and heat until about smoky. Re-fiy sauce over med. Heat for 5-15 min. stirring constantly. Add more stock if necessary - do not allow to get too thick. Strain sauce through a sieve & serve warm not hot.

Pumpkin Mole Sauce 2 tbs. vegetable oil % CUP blanched, slivered almonds 1 pasilla chile 2 ancho chiles 1 mulato chile 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup pumpkin puree 1 % CUPS de-fatted chicken broth 1 ounce Mexican chocolate ?4tsp ground cumin 118 tsp ground cinnamon 118 tsp ground cloves

The Chile Pepper Imrincte Newsfeller Danise Coon & Dr. Paul Bosland -Production Chris Coon, EditorlWriter Printed by TaCorn Printing Services Tbe Chile Pepper Institute Box 30003, MSC 3 4 New Mexico Stak University Las Cruces, Nht 88003 (505)W3028

In medium saucepan heat oil; saute almonds to golden brown. Remove !A cup; reserve for garnish. Puree chiles and garlic; add to saucepan and saute for 1 minute. Add pumpkin, broth, chocolate, cumin, cinnamon, cloves and a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer for five minutes. Puree smooth in a blender. Serve with chicken, turkey or pork. Garnish with reserved almonds, makes four cups.

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Seed packets available in this issue 'The Trinity of Mole',

Paul W. Bosland, Director Danise Coon, Asst. Dir. Tanya Anderson, Asst.

Anchos, Mulatos, & Pasillas

Wendy Hamilton, NMSU James Volk, State Natl. Bank

The Chile Pepper Insfitute New Mexico State University Ex. Omcio Dir. Board of Dimtors Dr. Jeny Schickdanz, Dean CAHE - NMSU Emma ban Cervantes,Cervantes Enterprise Dr. James Fisher, Dept Head, Dept. Agron.&Hort Louis Biad - Biad Chile Co. Dr. LeRoy Daugherty, Ag. Exp. Station Dave DeWitt - Fiery Foodp Mag. Steve Moore -Border Foods

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Recipes Continued... ....

Mole Negro de Oaxaca 4 mulato chiles 6 pasilla chiles 1% tbs. raw peanuts 114 cup almond 1 tbs. sesame seeds 1 tbs. vegetable oil 2 tsp. oregano leaves 4 black peppercorns 1 clove 1Tb. raisins 1 avocado 2 oz. grated Mexican chocolate or bitter chocolate (can substitute 4 tbs. of baking cocoa) 4 tomatoes chopped 1 tsp salt 1 tortilla torn in strips 3 cups broth from cooked fowl 1 whole chicken or '/z turkey cooked Fry the almonds, peanuts, and sesame seeds in the oil for 5 mins. Drain oil and blend nuts and seeds in a food processor along with all ingredients except fowl. Place the smoothly blended mixture into a deep saucepan and cook very slowly for 30 to 40 minutes or until it tastes done. Add spices. Cut fowl into pieces and heat. Serve fowl on a platter with mole sauce poured over it and accompanied with rice.

Ancho chile, driedpoblano

Hot Pepper Elephant Repellent

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Dr. Ferrel Loki Osborn, an elephant biologist &om New York, is researching new methods for elephant repellants. In a small village on the Zambezi river in Zimbabwe, farmers carefully attend to fields of cotton, corn and banana that have allured elephants pursuing a snack. This is where Dr. Osborn's lengthy research for the ultimate elephant repellent turns into a possible career shift fiom biologist to pepper-extract-eco-entrepreneur. Over the last seven years, Osborn has experimented on many types of sprays. He has developed a collection of capsaicin sprays, some of which the farmers can concoct themselves. Dr. Osborn found himself helping villagers shoot some brazen, young bulls getting out of hand in the Page 4

middle of a cotton field. However there are some people who think that an elephant biologist killing elephants is repulsive. Dr. Osborn states, in his own defense, that more than 200 people are crushed or gouged by elephants in Zimbabwe each year, leaving upset villagers in a mad shooting frenzy. Elephants have raided and destroyed crops from the very onset of humans practicing agriculture, but the problem gets worse when farmers use more of the forest to increase agricultural land area. The problem starts in February, which marks the beginning of mating season. In many cases the bulls indulge in ransacking fields to take advantage of an easy snack.

Continued.....

Osborn became aware of hot pepper sprays when hiking through western American regions and recalling how pepper spray was used to deter bears. In the east, sprays have been used to deter squirrels, deer and skunks. Given an elephant's reliance on smell and taste the animals must be ten times more sensitive to capsaicin compared to other mammals. The first repellant trials were those that shot out of fire eqinguishers. The only problem with this method'was that it required the person spraying to get dangerously close to the elephants and any change in wind direction would cause trouble for the sprayer and the animal. Jack Birochak designed a contraption that

launched the spray using pressurized air, shooting pepper grenades 60-70 yards, but this device has only been used for the most defiant elephants. One of the more widely used contraptions is a pepper coated fencing, which seems to deter elephants fiom even entering the fields. Continuing research will allow farmers to import habanero and tabasco seeds and grow their own hot peppers. There are also ideas for fhrmers and villagers to create their own hot sauces with these peppers and in turn raise money for continuing the elephant spray research. Osborn liked this idea because it created jobs, and a market for a new crop.

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Scientists in India have concluded the hottest chile on Earth grows in the northeastern hills of Assam, rather than farms in Mexico. According to the Indian scientists the 'Naga Jolokia' a CapsicumJi.utescens,is 50 percent hotter . than the Red Savina Habanero whos Scoville rating is around 555,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), the 'Naga Jolokia' possesses 855,000 SHU. The 'Naga Jolokia' grows to about 2 inches long and a thickness of half an inch. This statement alarmed Frank Garcia of GNS Spices, the developer and grower of the 'Red Savina' . "It would be highly unusual for a frutescens to be that hot," Garcia said in an interview with the FieryFoods & Barbecue. "Also, it is quite a coincidence that their test of the 'Red Savina' yielded exactly the same heat level as our lab tests." Garcia points out that-environmentalfactors such as soil type and moisture levels can modify the heat levels, so it is extremely abnormal for the same variety to have precisely the same heat level test after test. Garcia said that the 'Red Savina', listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's hottest chile, has been challenged before. "In some cases labs have discovered that the challengers samples have been blended with oleoresin," the extremely hot capsakin extracts, thus disqualifymg them, "But anything's possible," he said of the 'Naga Jolokia'. " So, bring it on and let's get some American laboratories to test samples af both the Indian chile z+J Volume X; No. 2, Fall/Winter 2000

The Hottest Chile?

and the 'Red Savina' and see which is the hottest." Scholars have also been suspicious of the Indian Scientist's claims. Dr. Paul Bosland of the Chile Breeding and Genetics program at New Mexico State University has the following concerns with their test: 1) They never say they calibrated the High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC.) One should make up a known concentration of capsaicin solution and run it through the machine to calibrate the HPLC. How do we know the HPLC wasn't measuring all samples 100,000 SHU too much? 2) The preparation of the chiles is questionable. Did they weigh the chile sample before extracting? Were the seeds, pericarp, andplacenta ground together?" In light of Dr. Bosland's doubt, Dave DeWitt of Fiery Foods Magazine I repeats his challenge to the Indian scientists. They should send

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~aboratdries.Frank !. Garcia of GNS Spices, developer of the 'Red ~avina', has agreed to provide his samples for a "hottest chile test-off." Additionally, DeWitt will be emailing this challenge to the Indian scientists. The Chile Pepper Institute plans to provide regular updates upcoming ~ewsletteis. Page 5 .

Capsicum News Hot Peppers for Psoriarfs?? A 42 year-old psoriasis patient suffering for 30 years fiom the disease decided to do some research bf her own Her elbows and knees were covered with red, rough lesions and silver scales. For years she used "Ultravate", a psoriasis medication ointment, two or three times a year but after a month of use all the spots would be as bad as ever. Last spring she developed a taste for hot and spicy food. She started eating salsa almost every day, and graduated fiom mild to medium to hot. During this h e , the ointment worked amazingly well. The psoriasis lesions disappeared after the pink stage. Then, with no treatment, her elbows and knees started to clear. At first a connection between the hot peppers and the disappearance of the lesions was not seen, but then she read that capsaicin from hot peppers is used as a topical treatment for arthritis and psoriasis. As a test, she stopped eating hot peppers, and within two weeks the remaining lesions became inflamed and irritated. She ended the test immediately. Sure enough, the lesions got much better as she started eating salsa again. Scientists found a number of studies supporting the use of topical capsaicin in treating psoriasis. Source: Albuquerque Journal, Feb. 14, 2000

Hot Bottoms

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A new paint mixture is said to keep algae and barnacles from ruining boat paint. One company, seems confident that their Hot Bottom ingredients of 33.34 percent cuprous oxide and capsaicin will protect a bods bottom better than traditional paint. In recent research this paint was tested against a mixture of another paint containing % tbs each of chile powder, Tabasco sauce, Trappey's Bull Louisiana Hot Sauce and one quart Sears Page 6

Bottom, and another with Interlux Bottomkote, specially designed for boats, and also left one section bare. Researchers then subjected the painted boats to the marine elements. After 60 days, the researchers blend, which had been fairing well until then, turned into a soft smorgasbord of bottom growth. During month three, Hot Bottom began to show signs of algae growth, but no barnacle growth. At six months, the bare fiberglass was covered with algae as well as barnacle growth, the researchers special blend had the beginnings of barnacle invasion, and Hot ~ o t t o mhad nothing but algae. The Interlux, with its higher copper content (42.75 percent), had the least growth, including algae. Source: Boating New York, May 1998

Capsicum annuum L. tinnean herbarium Carl Linnaeus, (1707 - 1778) is distinguished as the botanist that invented the binomial nomenclature system and as the founder of modern biological systematics. In his life, he was the first naturalist knighted with Sweden's Order of the Polar Star. He is recognized with giving chile peppers, .. Capsicum annuum L. and Capsicum , -3 1 r ~ frutescens L., their -binomials, which is why there is a capital "L" behind those species names. Pictured here is a plant of Capsicum annuum preserved, to see more pictures in better detail go to the Linnean herbarium website at: http://linnaeus.nrm.se/botany/fbo/welcome. html.en -.

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Engineering Peppers fir Desired Traits Dr. Marla Binzel a molecular biologist for the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station has found an eficient way to engineer chiles for desired traits. Binzel's method should lead to better disease and insect resistance and perhaps even better colors, heat control and processing features. The experiment station method hasn't been easy to come by in chiles. "It has become pretty routine now to insert genes into plants, but has remained dificult for certain plants such as chile," states Binzel. Because chiles are not a big enough crop worldwide, companies are not going to invest if it costs too much to improve. The $60 million industry is constantly looking for new ways to improve chiles. Source: The Grower, Sept. 2000

doubled since 1980, increasing to nearly 4 pounds per person, according the U.S.D.A. and the American Spice Trade Association. Total consumption is expected to reach an astonishing 1.4 billion pounds a year by 2003. Source: FieryFoods Magazine October 2000

The Pepper Trail Higtory and Recipesjbm Around the

Vorrld Jean Andrews is known as "the first lady of chile peppers," and has her own registered trademark, "The Pepper Lady." She has written a book that includes: details of the spice trade and early movements of capsicums descriptions and illustrations on twenty-seven separate varieties of Capsicum, as well as miscellaneous cultivars recipes fiom nationally known chefs.

What Are America's ~ a v ofte r Seasonings?

Andrews follows "the pepper trail" through Turkey and the Middle East, Afiica and Monsoon Two American spice companies-McCormick and Tone's-- disagree as to what are America's Asia (India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, top ten most wanted seasonings. Both companies Thailand, and agree that basil, dill, red chile (or cayenne), Indonesia) vanilla, cinnamon, rosemary, and thyme are in the top ten of those most wanted. McCormick's Xinjiang, Sichuan and Hunan in list also includes fennel, cumin, and ginger, China as well as while Tone's list has curry powder, garlic, and Latin America. oregano. Paprika and bay leaf were on neither companies list. Increasingly popular are spice This latest offering blends, which are mixtures of herbs and spices includes previously that are an important part of a variety of ethnic undiscovered facts, including the cuisine. These spice blends have been very etymology of the popular with many gourmets and are now being word "cayenne." marketed in supermarkets. For example, Spice Islands line of blends includes Thai Seasoning, The Pepper Trail Calcutta Heat (a curry blend), Szechuan includes recipes Andrews has collected and Seasoning, Jamaican Jerk Seasoning, and devised herself in her travels plus recipes fiom Louisiana-Style Cajun Seasoning. McCormick's chefs including Mark Miller, Reed Clemons, American Spice Blends include Santa Fe and . Miguel Ravago, Stephen Pyles, Jon Jividen, Paula Monterey with red chile, and Caribbean Jerk.%-* Lambert (Mozzarella Company), Robert del This type of development suggests that Grande, John Ash, and many others. Andrews Americans are showing a greater fondness for recipes include something for everyone including hot and spicy. Spice consumption in the U.S. ha! 7 cipes of soups and salads, meat, fowl and seafood dishes, vegetarian dishes, sauces and -r olume X No. 2, FallBVinter ?nnn Page 7

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