July 10, 2007

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Ancient Mexican Food Also Relied On Hot Peppers

The remains of ten different kinds of cultivated chili peppers that are perhaps 1500 years old have been found in two caves in southern Mexico. Steve Mirsky reports.

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July 10, 2007  Ancient Mexican Food Also Relied On Hot Peppers 

On the July 3rd podcast we talked about a variety of superhot habanero pepper that’s brand new.  Now comes news about some chili peppers that are really old.  Two caves in southern Mexico were found to contain leftovers—possibly 1500-year-old leftovers of 10 different kinds of cultivated chili peppers.  That’s according to Smithsonian researchers writing in the latest online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The arid conditions in the caves preserve plants well, and have already offered info about ancient Mexican agriculture.  For example, squash was cultivated in the region 10,000 years ago.  And the caves also contain corn, beans and avocados in addition to the chili peppers. 

It would take genetic analysis to tell if the chili varieties correspond to modern peppers.  Although one kind of pepper looks like a modern cayenne and another like a tabasco pepper.  The researchers DID determine that the people who grew the peppers used them both fresh and dried.  One cave had seven varieties, leading a researcher to say, “You don’t grow seven different kinds of chilies unless you’re cooking some pretty interesting food.”

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Ancient Mexican Food Also Relied On Hot Peppers