https://phys.org/news/2024-11-spicy-history-chili-peppers.html
The history of the chili pepper is in some ways the history of humanity in the Americas, says Dr. Katherine Chiou, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at The University of Alabama.
As a paleoethnobotanist, Chiou studies the long-term relationship between people and plants through archaeological remains. In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Chiou outlines evidence that the domestication of Capsicum annum var. annum, the species responsible for most commercially available chilies, occurred in a different region of Mexico than has been previously believed.
[...] Two things emerged. First, Tamaulipas, the region assumed to be the origin of this Capsicum species, did not have conditions that would support wild chili pepper growth in the Holocene era, the time when domestication appears to have begun. The data indicate that the lowland area near the Yucatán Peninsula and southern coastal Guerrero is a more likely candidate for first encounters between wild Capsicum and early humans.
Second, and potentially more interesting, is that chili pepper domestication is not a firmly drawn boundary. "We think domestication was around 10,000 years ago or earlier," said Chiou. "But through Postclassic Maya times, which is relatively late in the cultural history of the region, we see this continuum between wild and domestic."
Usually, domesticated plants are kept mostly separate from their wild progenitors, but chilies appear to have continually been interbred with wild varieties until quite recently. Some wild varieties are still consumed today, like the chiltepin in the southwestern U.S., and many more varieties are curated by native peoples in Mexico. It's a messy story, but that may not be a bad thing.
Journal Reference: K.L. Chiou, A. Lira-Noriega, E. Gallaga, C.A. Hastorf, A. Aguilar-Meléndez, Interdisciplinary insights into the cultural and chronological context of chili pepper (Capsicum annuum var. annuum L.) domestication in Mexico, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 121 (47) e2413764121, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2413764121 (2024).
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday November 23, @04:15PM (1 child)
When i was a kid, i remember getting awful leg pains one time: i took a bath and then my mom put Heet on my leg.
SHIT! I remember yelling "GET IT OFF...GET IT OFF!"
I'm sure it didn't get much worse, but as a kid, you think "If it hurts this much now, how bad will it be in 5 minutes!"
Had to get back into the shower and wash my legs with cold water.
Ah, fun times. Fun times.
Now i love sriracha, lol.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23, @11:52PM
Mine was later in life, but equally memorable. There was nothing like hot pepper spiced food or anything similar in my family, in that respect I was ignorant when I went off to college. One day a roommate was cooking and asked me to slice up a hot green chili pepper into small pieces, which I did (still ignorant). Then came an urge to scratch my 'nads...
(Score: 2, Interesting) by pTamok on Saturday November 23, @05:59PM (2 children)
I haven't found a good reference either way as to whether capsaicin is neurotoxic to the extent that it kills (sensory) neurons, or not.
There are some articles on the use of capsaicin for the treatment (and alleviation) of neuropathic pain, e.g. Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Volume 220, April 2021, 107743: Fight fire with fire: Neurobiology of capsaicin-induced analgesia for chronic pain [nih.gov]
"Ablation of axonal terminals" doesn't sound wonderful.
Don't get me wrong: I like chili, and it is associated with many health benefits (whether those associations are significant is another story...), and being neurotoxic doesn't stop people from smoking (for nicotine, which can be both neurotoxic and neuroprotective [sciencedirect.com], but other chemicals in tobacco smoke are definitely nasty. ) or drinking ethanol [springer.com].
I currently use about one-and-a-half birds-eye chili peppers per person when I cooked a spiced dish (like stir-fry, or chili con carne), and I wonder if I am slowly 'killing my taste buds'.
It also looks like it can induce 'heartburn': Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology: The Potential Role for Impaired Mucosal Integrity in the Generation of Esophageal Pain Using Capsaicin in Humans: An Explorative Study [nih.gov]
Health effects, including benefits: Experimental Cell Research: Beneficial effects of dietary capsaicin in gastrointestinal health and disease [sciencedirect.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 24, @02:31AM (1 child)
Like most stuff I think it depends on the dose.
Lower doses = trigger burning sensation, analgesic effects.
High dose = kills stuff.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Sunday November 24, @03:55PM
You could well be right, but I would love to find some worthwhile academic papers covering the question.
Many people who eat spicy food 'get used to it', and end up eating food that, if given to someone not used to it, is regarded as way too hot*. The mechanism of 'getting used to it' is what intrigues me - people working as riveters in shipyards 'got used' to the noise that mechanical rivet hammers produced - which was, in fact, their hearing being destroyed.
*An oldie, but a goodie: https://stuffhappens.us/man-selected-to-be-judge-at-chili-cook-off-15820/ [stuffhappens.us]