Could eating chillies add years to your lifespan? Yes, if the latest research is anything to go, it seems chillies can play a role in helping us to live longer. An observational study at the University of Vermont has linked eating hot red chillies with a 13% reduction in total mortality. Put simply researchers studying almost 17,000 Americans over 6 years found a significant reduction in deaths among those with a fondness for spicy chillies.
Being a huge chilli fan myself this news excited me when it made the headlines in January. For me chillies are such a daily dietary staple that dried chilli flakes have pride of place on my kitchen bench, alongside the salt and pepper. The active component of chillies that makes them hot is called capsaicin and the ‘Scoville scale’ is used to rate the pungency of different chillies. The higher the capsaicin concentration the higher a chilli scores in ‘Scoville heat units’.
Luckily for me one of my work colleagues, Ben, lives by a store that stocks Mexican and Latin American produce. After discovering my fondness for heat he kindly grabbed me a whole variety of Mexican dried chillies. It wasn’t long before I’d used some of my new supply to whip up a huge batch of spicy Mexican sauce. That recipe will come soon – but in the meantime, post a little research on Wikipedia, here’s a little more about each of these chillies.
- Pasilla
- Ancho
- Mulato
- Habanero
- Chipolte
Pasilla – The pasilla chile, also known as chile negro, is mild to medium hot and pairs well with garlic, oregano and fennel. Looks wise its distinguishing feature is a dark wrinkled skin – the name pasilla actually comes from ‘little raisin’. The pasilla also has a long length of 15cm to 20cm. Pasilla chillies are deep in flavour and are commonly used in Mexican sauces. More interesting I’ve even seen them appear in a recipe for Mexican chilli chocolate ice cream. Take note if you go on the hunt for pasilla chillies – they’re pronounced ‘pay-see-yah’.
As I said at the start of this post I used one each of these chillies (minus the scary habaneros) to whip up a huge batch of spicy Mexican sauce. That recipe will come soon. In the meantime if you’ve been questioning my spelling during this post note that chilli or chillies to me may be chili or chiles to you. That’s because ‘chilli’ and the plural ‘chillies’ are the spelling used in British English. In American English there is one less ‘l’ – ‘chile’ and ‘chiles’. Either way they could be an easy shortcut to a long happy life so it seems you really can’t have too much chilli. If you have any chilli tips or tricks I’d love to hear them!Laura
Thanks for a very informative post Laura. I love love love chilies, simply cannot live without them! I recently came across with Jalapeno jam and habanero jelly in California, and fell in love with Mexican chilies. Looking forward to your spicy sauce recipe 🙂
Thanks so much Jin – I’m glad it was useful!
I need to get me some chillies 🌶 great post, I like hot food and now even more knowing it might lengthen my life 😂
Ha ha – I agree Becky – now knowing chillies are so good for you I may even be eating more of them!
Fabulous post. So interesting. I don’t know where I’d be in the kitchen without chillies. They are such an integral ingredient of my cooking.
Thank you Tracey – nice to hear from a fellow chilli lover! Hopefully you’ll try Mexican dried chillies if you haven’t already.
Hi Laura, thanks for posting this guide. I’ve pinned it as I will find it very useful.
Liz – I’m glad it will come in handy for you. I didn’t know where to start when I was kindly given all of the different chillies – only after the research that made up my post did I feel confident to use them without creating too much burn!
I love my chilies too! I use to grow lots of different kinds of peppers and then dried those I did not use fresh. I also smoked my own jalapenos (chipotles). The mulato chile is the only one I’m not familiar with. Thanks for posting this…
Wow now I’m super impressed – growing and drying your own chillies – and I’d love to hear any recipes you use them for!
We love chillies! It’s just an added bonus that they are healthy.
That’s good to hear Gretchen! Hopefully your boys will have a lifelong love of them 😄
Love them all!!! I’ve got all of these in the cupboard 🙂
Lucky you Elaine to have them all to hand – let me know of any other recipes you’ve posted that use them as I have so many left to experiment with!
It’s all sauces, I make endless versions of adobo sauce, and spice mixes..