Cayenne as Medicine and Current Findings
FROM THE MEDICAL WORLD
Most medical doctors eliminate hot foods such as capsicum from the diets of ulcer patients and others with delicate digestion; as we have shown, this is directly opposite to that which is recommended by herbalists.
Their actions are influenced from medical research showing hemorrhaging occurring after introducing (mechanically) capsicum into the stomachs of persons prone to hemorrhages. Their observations are fact but tend to be inconclusive. Perhaps any substance introduced mechanically into the system could have caused hemorrhaging. From personal experience, I was very uncomfortable taking capsicum for my bleeding ulcers, but after one day of taking capsicum, in water, I never again experienced passing dark blood through my stools. Perhaps the immediate bleeding observed, by the researchers, would have been corrected through continued herb care.
FOOD AS MEDICINE
The most prominent non-medical use of Capsicum, of course, is culinary, a perfect example of the old maxim, “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food.” In kitchens all over the world, Capsicums are used to prepare hot dishes, and are even featured as a vegetable themselves. The peppers are ground and mixed with other spices to make Chili Powder, a common seasoning almost everywhere.
If you are fortunate enough to grow or purchase your own chili peppers, you can preserve them yourself. You can pickle them as you would cucumbers, adding carrots, celery, onions or other vegetables as the Mexicans do. If you wish to can or freeze green chilies, you will need to roast and peel them. Roast them over an open flame or in a hot oven until the skins blister. Quickly put them into a plastic bag or damp cloth until the steam loosens the skins. You may then, with hands gloved in rubber gloves or well-oiled—to avoid blistering or buming—peel the peppers. Remove the seeds if desired, chop if desired, and freeze in plastic bags, well-sealed. If you wish to can them, follow directions included with your canning jars as to pressure needed in a pressure canner.
You may use green hot peppers to make your own taco or hot sauce. To two or three quarts of tomatoes, add salt and garlic pepper to taste, and two to three cups of chopped, peeled chills. Can as usual for tomatoes.
The Mexicans make a raw chili salsa, with chopped tomato, onion, garlic, and fresh chili pepper. This salsa is an excellent and garnish to any meal.
By far the easiest culinary use of Cayenne is just to sprinkle it upon your food, as you would use black pepper. Use a little at first, increasing as you become accustomed to the pungency. For everyday maintenance o(good health, this is an excellent way to use Cayenne. Even children can learn to enjoy foods thus seasoned.
As for other uses, the leaves are used extensively in the Philippines as a green dye. The powder can be sprinkled in primitive living sites to drive off bugs and vermin, as they detest Cayenne, and it can also be burned to fumigate against vermin. A room thus fumigated can be opened and used right after the treatment, as the fumes are not poisonous to humans (Levy:43).
CURRENT FINDINGS
Recent research has focused on the extraction and isolation of the constituents of Capsicum. Lee et al. devised a mass fragmentographic method for the quantitative microanalysis of Capsaicin, the major medicinal constituent of Capsicum (Journal of Chromatography, 21 July 1976). Salzer, noting that most industrially prepared quick foods are relying on seasoning extracts rather than the more easily deteriorated spices themselves, discovered that the main flavoring constituent of Capsicum is capsaicin (Critical Reviews in Science and Nutrition, 1977).
Of most interest medicinally, Frischkorn and Frischkorn researched the debilitating tropical disease, schistosomiasis, or snail fever, which is contracted through the skin by contact with snail larvae in fresh water. They estimate that up to half of the people in the third world are afflicted with this disease. Aside from chemotherapeutic treatment and water treatment, they discovered that the oil of Capsicum annuum, which is high in capsaicin, kills the larvae, and that frequent ingestion of Capsicum can help treat the disease (Naturwissenschaften, September, 1978)
Of particular interest to herbalists who are interested in the reasons why Capsicum is so valuable in heart disease, Kanner et. al. analyzed Capsicum annuum for tocopherol content. They found that of all the edible plants, Capsicum annuum contained the most natural Vitamin E, which is in a peculiarly stable form. In fresh, ripe pepper fruits, they found 3-10 mg./100 grams, which shows that the vegetable could become a significant source of Vitamin E in the diet. Vitamin E is often used to treat heart conditions. Because there is also a goodly amount of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) in the peppers, the two vitamins are well balanced naturally, which the authors considered a fact of great importance in nutritional and technological considerations (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, November-December, 1979, pp. 1316-8).
DESCRIPTION
Capsicum belongs to the botanic family Solanaceae, commonly known as the Nightshade family and including potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers, eggplants, the deadly nightshade, henbane, Jimson weed, petunias, and tobacco (Heiser:l). They are not true peppers, but were misnamed by early Spanish explorers who confused their hot taste with the pepper to which they were accustomed.
Capsicum annuum is a shrubby perennial plant two to six feet high. Branches are angular, usually enlarged and slightly purple at the nodes; petioles medium; penducles slender, often in pairs, and longer than the fruit; calyx cup-shaped, clasping base of fruit which is red, ovate, and long; seeds small and flat, from ten to twenty nine. The cuticle of the pericarp is uniformly striated and in this particular is distinct from other species. The taste is pungent and the smell characteristic, though not disagreeable (Gri: 175-76).
The peppers, when dried, vary in lengths from 3/8 inch to 2 1/4 inches and in width from 3/16 to 1/2 inch. The shape is blunt and roundish at the base, tapering to a point; oblong-acuminate. The pods are shiny, flattish and somewhat wrinkled. The seeds are small, flat, reniform, and yellow.
The African varieties are smaller and more pungent than the American varieties, which are larger and more heart-shaped.
Copyright 2004 The School of Natural Healing. All Rights Reserved.
Continue the Tour by clicking here to learn about Cultivation and Usage, or jump in anywhere you would like by clicking on any of the following:
History · Medical & Findings · Cultivation & Usage · Composition · Formulas · Bibliography
FROM THE MEDICAL WORLD
Most medical doctors eliminate hot foods such as capsicum from the diets of ulcer patients and others with delicate digestion; as we have shown, this is directly opposite to that which is recommended by herbalists.
Their actions are influenced from medical research showing hemorrhaging occurring after introducing (mechanically) capsicum into the stomachs of persons prone to hemorrhages. Their observations are fact but tend to be inconclusive. Perhaps any substance introduced mechanically into the system could have caused hemorrhaging. From personal experience, I was very uncomfortable taking capsicum for my bleeding ulcers, but after one day of taking capsicum, in water, I never again experienced passing dark blood through my stools. Perhaps the immediate bleeding observed, by the researchers, would have been corrected through continued herb care.
FOOD AS MEDICINE
The most prominent non-medical use of Capsicum, of course, is culinary, a perfect example of the old maxim, “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food.” In kitchens all over the world, Capsicums are used to prepare hot dishes, and are even featured as a vegetable themselves. The peppers are ground and mixed with other spices to make Chili Powder, a common seasoning almost everywhere.
If you are fortunate enough to grow or purchase your own chili peppers, you can preserve them yourself. You can pickle them as you would cucumbers, adding carrots, celery, onions or other vegetables as the Mexicans do. If you wish to can or freeze green chilies, you will need to roast and peel them. Roast them over an open flame or in a hot oven until the skins blister. Quickly put them into a plastic bag or damp cloth until the steam loosens the skins. You may then, with hands gloved in rubber gloves or well-oiled—to avoid blistering or buming—peel the peppers. Remove the seeds if desired, chop if desired, and freeze in plastic bags, well-sealed. If you wish to can them, follow directions included with your canning jars as to pressure needed in a pressure canner.
You may use green hot peppers to make your own taco or hot sauce. To two or three quarts of tomatoes, add salt and garlic pepper to taste, and two to three cups of chopped, peeled chills. Can as usual for tomatoes.
The Mexicans make a raw chili salsa, with chopped tomato, onion, garlic, and fresh chili pepper. This salsa is an excellent and garnish to any meal.
By far the easiest culinary use of Cayenne is just to sprinkle it upon your food, as you would use black pepper. Use a little at first, increasing as you become accustomed to the pungency. For everyday maintenance o(good health, this is an excellent way to use Cayenne. Even children can learn to enjoy foods thus seasoned.
As for other uses, the leaves are used extensively in the Philippines as a green dye. The powder can be sprinkled in primitive living sites to drive off bugs and vermin, as they detest Cayenne, and it can also be burned to fumigate against vermin. A room thus fumigated can be opened and used right after the treatment, as the fumes are not poisonous to humans (Levy:43).
CURRENT FINDINGS
Recent research has focused on the extraction and isolation of the constituents of Capsicum. Lee et al. devised a mass fragmentographic method for the quantitative microanalysis of Capsaicin, the major medicinal constituent of Capsicum (Journal of Chromatography, 21 July 1976). Salzer, noting that most industrially prepared quick foods are relying on seasoning extracts rather than the more easily deteriorated spices themselves, discovered that the main flavoring constituent of Capsicum is capsaicin (Critical Reviews in Science and Nutrition, 1977).
Of most interest medicinally, Frischkorn and Frischkorn researched the debilitating tropical disease, schistosomiasis, or snail fever, which is contracted through the skin by contact with snail larvae in fresh water. They estimate that up to half of the people in the third world are afflicted with this disease. Aside from chemotherapeutic treatment and water treatment, they discovered that the oil of Capsicum annuum, which is high in capsaicin, kills the larvae, and that frequent ingestion of Capsicum can help treat the disease (Naturwissenschaften, September, 1978)
Of particular interest to herbalists who are interested in the reasons why Capsicum is so valuable in heart disease, Kanner et. al. analyzed Capsicum annuum for tocopherol content. They found that of all the edible plants, Capsicum annuum contained the most natural Vitamin E, which is in a peculiarly stable form. In fresh, ripe pepper fruits, they found 3-10 mg./100 grams, which shows that the vegetable could become a significant source of Vitamin E in the diet. Vitamin E is often used to treat heart conditions. Because there is also a goodly amount of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) in the peppers, the two vitamins are well balanced naturally, which the authors considered a fact of great importance in nutritional and technological considerations (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, November-December, 1979, pp. 1316-8).
DESCRIPTION
Capsicum belongs to the botanic family Solanaceae, commonly known as the Nightshade family and including potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers, eggplants, the deadly nightshade, henbane, Jimson weed, petunias, and tobacco (Heiser:l). They are not true peppers, but were misnamed by early Spanish explorers who confused their hot taste with the pepper to which they were accustomed.
Capsicum annuum is a shrubby perennial plant two to six feet high. Branches are angular, usually enlarged and slightly purple at the nodes; petioles medium; penducles slender, often in pairs, and longer than the fruit; calyx cup-shaped, clasping base of fruit which is red, ovate, and long; seeds small and flat, from ten to twenty nine. The cuticle of the pericarp is uniformly striated and in this particular is distinct from other species. The taste is pungent and the smell characteristic, though not disagreeable (Gri: 175-76).
The peppers, when dried, vary in lengths from 3/8 inch to 2 1/4 inches and in width from 3/16 to 1/2 inch. The shape is blunt and roundish at the base, tapering to a point; oblong-acuminate. The pods are shiny, flattish and somewhat wrinkled. The seeds are small, flat, reniform, and yellow.
The African varieties are smaller and more pungent than the American varieties, which are larger and more heart-shaped.
Copyright 2004 The School of Natural Healing. All Rights Reserved.
Continue the Tour by clicking here to learn about Cultivation and Usage, or jump in anywhere you would like by clicking on any of the following:
History · Medical & Findings · Cultivation & Usage · Composition · Formulas · Bibliography
"Natural Healing with Herbs for a Healthier You"
