CHILLIES.
Capsicmn,. . . . ENG. Lombok ; Chabai, MALAY.
Cayenne pepper, . „ Lada mera ; Lada china, „ Minh, . . . . HIND. Mollaga TAM.
Lombok JAV. . . TEL.
Chilli is the Mexican name for all varieties of capsicum, though they are natives of the East and West Indies, and other hot climates. C. annuum is the species commonly noticed, but there are numerous varieties which, by many, are reckoned species. Thus C. frutescens is a shrubby plant, which grows to a large and more bushy size ; C. minimum supplies the variety called bird pepper ; C. baccatum has a globular fruit, and furnishes cherry or berry capsicum. They are all of the simplest culture ; but culture appears to increase the size, and to diminish the pungency of the fruit. Their acridity is owing to an olea ginous substance called capsicin. When the fruit is fresh, it has a penetrating acrid smell ; is extremely pungent to the taste, and produces a most painful burning in the mouth. When dried, they form a large article of local and foreign traffic, and form the basis of cayenne pepper ; but in vinegar, when green or ripe, they are an acceptable pickle. In Bengal, the natives make an extract from chilies, which is about the con sistence and colour of treacle. In all Southern and Eastern Asia both rich and poor daily use them, and they form the principal ingredient in all chatnis and curries ; ground into a paste between two stones, with a little mustard, oil, ginger, and salt, they form the only seasoning which the millions of poor in those countries can obtain to eat with their rice. They are worth about 40s. the candy of 600 lbs. Cayenne pepper is used in medicine chiefly in the form of tincture, as a rubefacient and stimulant, especially in cases of ulcerated sore-throat. It acts on the stomach as an aromatic condiment ; and when preserved in acetic acid it forms chilli vinegar. Red pepper may be considered one of the most useful vege tables in hygiene. As a stimulant and auxiliary
in digestion, it has been considered invaluable, especially in warm countries. Immense quanti ties of the capsicum are used by the native popu lation of the West Indies, Africa, and Mexico ; the consumption there as a condiment being almost universal, and perhaps equal in quantity to salt. The `wort' or cayenne pottage may be termed the national dish of the Abyssinians, as that or its basis dillock 'is invariably eaten with their' ordinary diet, the thin crumpet-like bread of teff or wheat flour. Equal parts of salt and the red cayenne pods are powdered and mixed together with a little pea or bean meal to make a paste. This is called dillock, and is made in quantities at a time, being preserved in a large gourd shell, generally suspended from the roof. The wort is merely a little water added to this paste, which is then boiled over the fire, with the addition of a little fat meat and more meal to make a kind of porridge, to which sometimes is also added several warm seeds, such as the com mon cress or black mustard, both of which are indigenous in Abyssinia. A kind called the Tobago red pepper is said to possess the most pungent properties of any of the species. It yields a small red pod, less than an inch in length, and longitudinal in shape, which is so exceedingly hot, that a small quantity of it is sufficient to season a large dish of any food. Owing to its oleaginous character, it has been found impossible to preserve it by drying ; but by pouring strong boiling vinegar on it, a sauce or decoction can be made, which possesses in a concentrated form all the essential qualities of the vegetable. A single drop of this sauce will flavour a whole plate of soup or other food.—Johnston's Abyssinia; O'Sh.; Faulkner; Simmonds, p. 429. See Capsicum.