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Eight interesting facts about pepper
How was it found, how did it get its name, is it a vegetable and who can eat hot peppers without burning the IR tongue? The following eight interesting facts will reveal everything you didn't know about peppers!
1. One of the oldest cultures in the world
Hot pepper seeds older than 6,000 years, as well as traces of peppers on various prehistoric kitchen utensils in the areas of Central and South America, especially Peru, indicate that pepper was one of the first crops that man cultivated and used in dishes.
After the discovery of America, pepper was brought to Europe by Portuguese and Spanish ships during the 16th and 17th centuries, and it reached Balkans via trade routes through Turkey.
2. The pepper got its name by mistake
As the story goes, Columbus was not only mistaken about the continen the found, and he called the people there Indians, but he was also convinced that pepper was actually the fruit of black pepper. Admittedly, Columbus first came across dry hot peppers and brought them to Europe, where people concluded that the plant mus t be some kind of pepper due to its hot taste. From then until today, pepper (paprika)has kept its name after pepper.
3. Pepper is a fruit
Pepper is actually a fruit, and that's because the fruit grows from a plant that flowers and contains seeds. If now, while reading this, some other edible plants that also grow like that come to your mind, and you wonder if they are also fruits, you are right; this also applies to tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini, for example.
4. Why hot peppers are not equally hot everywhere
All of us who love hot peppers know that the first bite is the mildest, and as we get closer to the stem, the pepper gets hotter and hotter. This is because that part of the pepper has the most capsaicin, which gives that familiar feeling of fire in the mouth. Capsaicin is most present in the thin fleshy parts that connect the body of the pepper to the seeds, so if you carefully remove it, they will be less hot.
If, by any chance, your tongue gets a little more burnt with the pepper, immediately drink a glass of cold milk. Milk contains casein, an ingredient that affects capsaicin and soothes its effect.
5. One pepper a day for good health and a slim line
Just one red pepper will satisfy even more than 100% of there commended daily intake of vitamin C and up to 300% of the recommended daily in take of vitamin A, which will make your vision sharper, and you will also get vitamin K1, vitamin E, folic acid, potassium, iron.
In addition to all that, pepper is low in calories and rich in water, making it a true guardian of a slim line. As well as our ajvar, which contains only 7calories per teaspoon.
6. Vitamin C and beta carotene are responsible for the taste of pepper
Depending on the color of the peppers, there is a difference in taste, so the red ones are the sweetest precisely because of the high concentration of vitamin C and beta-carotene, which is responsible for the red color. As it ripens, the pepper changes color from green, through yellow to bright red, which is at the top of foods rich in vitamin C, for example even two to four times more than an orange.
7. Hot pepper became hot in self-defense
Capsaicin in hot peppers is believed to have originated as a plant defense mechanism to prevent the development of fungi and insect-borne microbial infections. Thus, it has been observed that hot peppers grow in areas where there are naturally more insects.
8. Who can eat hot pepper without getting their tongue burnt
The main culprit behind the burning sensation in the mouth when we bite into a hot pepper, capsaicin, only works on mammals. Birds, for example, do not feel this hot taste at all and therefore play one of the biggest roles in the spread of wild types of peppers, dispersing their seeds.
