According to the different characters of pepper, it can be roughly divided into four types:
1. Long-handled peppers are cultivated and wild, distributed in South America. The corolla is yellow or brown, the fruit stalk is slender, and it has strong drought and cold resistance. It's a late-maturing variety.
2. Woody pepper is a perennial woody plant with shriveled leaves, milky white or greenish white flowers, red or yellow fruits and strong spicy taste.
3. Zanthoxylum bungeanum is a perennial plant in the humid and hot zone, distributed in Central America and South America, with purplish red flowers, round or oval fruits, yellow at maturity and extremely late maturity.
There are many kinds of annual peppers, including green leaves, white flowers and red or yellow fruits. Fruit shapes are lantern-shaped, long-horned, short-horned, conical and cherry-shaped.
According to the fruit characteristics of pepper varieties, they can be divided into five varieties:
1, long pepper is mostly middle-early maturing, with medium leaves, strong branching, drooping fruit, long horns, sharp to the top, often slightly curved and strong spicy taste. According to the length of fruit shape, it can be divided into three varieties: one is long pepper. The fruit is slender, with a large number of fruit sets and spicy taste. The second kind is short pepper. The fruit has short horns and the meat is thick and spicy. The third is line pepper. The fruit is linear, long and big, and has a strong spicy taste. It can be dried, pickled or made into Chili sauce.
2. Sweet persimmon and sweet pepper plants are moderately stout, with thick leaves, oval or oval shape, plump fruits and fleshy meat. According to the shape of the fruit, it can be divided into three varieties: one is the big persimmon pepper. Mid-late maturity, early maturity of some varieties, oblate fruit, sweet and slightly spicy taste. The second one is big bell pepper. Mid-late maturity, disease resistance and high yield, cylindrical or blunt conical fruit, sweet and slightly spicy. The third kind is small round pepper. Small fruit shape, dark green peel, shiny and slightly spicy.
3. cherry pepper plants are medium or short with strong branching; Leaf blade small, round or oval, apex acute; The fruit is upward or oblique, cherry-shaped, red, yellow and purple, which is extremely spicy. It can be dried peppers or ornamental.
4. The cone pepper plant is similar to cherry pepper; The fruit is conical or cylindrical, mostly growing upward, but also drooping, with thick pulp and medium spicy taste.
5. Cluster peppers have dense branches, long and narrow leaves and strong branching; Late maturity, heat tolerance and virus resistance; The fruit is clustered upright, slender and red, with deep red color, thin pulp, strong spicy taste and high oil content. Do more dry pepper planting. Heat tolerance, late maturity and strong disease resistance.
According to the significant difference of spicy intensity, peppers are divided into four categories:
1, special pepper refers to small fruit pepper with strong or extremely spicy taste. For example, you can't eat peppers in Yunnan directly, otherwise your lips and tongue will hurt and your gums will bleed. As long as you rinse in the soup pot a few times, the whole pot of soup will become spicy, and then you can hang it up and use it many times, so it is called rinse Chili, and some people call it "spicy king" Coincidentally, Hungary in eastern Europe also has a kind of pepper, which can't keep mouth shut for a long time. It is the sister flower of China pepper.
2, spicy pepper cherry pepper, seven-star pepper, long horn pepper, short horn pepper, line pepper and so on. , with a strong spicy taste, belongs to this category.
3. Hot pepper is spicy, but not very strong, or medium spicy, such as horn pepper, black shell pepper and cone pepper.
4. Peppers with extremely light or slightly sweet taste and no spicy taste, such as large persimmon pepper, square sweet pepper, large sweet pepper, poached sweet pepper, lantern pepper, eggplant sweet pepper and small round pepper, all belong to this category.
According to the different uses of pepper, it can be divided into four categories:
1. Vegetable peppers or fresh peppers, such as Shanghai eggplant pepper, Beijing sweet pepper, Northeast big sweet pepper and persimmon pepper, are fleshy, crisp and slightly spicy, and can be used as fresh vegetables for cold dishes or fried foods. Horn pepper in Shanghai, short-footed pepper in Changsha and horn pepper in Guangxi are thick and not very spicy, and can also be eaten fresh or cold. In addition, pickled peppers can be not only cold and stir-fried, but also pickled vegetables, tiger skin peppers, fermented peppers, pickled peppers, pickled peppers in vinegar, ham peppers, sesame peppers and shrimp oil peppers. , unique flavor, excellent taste, beneficial to people.
2, seasoning peppers Some peppers are very spicy. If you eat it directly as a vegetable pepper, it is difficult to swallow; As a condiment, it is quite suitable. If it is made into Chili sauce, Chili oil, Chili sauce, Chili juice, etc. , can increase the flavor of dishes.
3. Dried Chili The line pepper in Shaanxi, Erjinbao in Sichuan and Chaotian pepper in Hunan are mainly dried peppers, which can be processed into dried peppers, Chili noodles and Chili bricks, which can be used as condiments and exported to earn foreign exchange.
4. Ornamental peppers, colorful peppers, cherry peppers and ornamental peppers. Potted plants are quite beautiful. Pepper, etc. , also used for potted viewing.
In addition, the skin color of pepper fruit seems to be green or red, but it is not, it is quite changeable. Green ripe skin has different shades of green, and a few varieties are white, yellow or purple. For example, there is a kind of white pepper in Lichuan, Jiangxi Province, whose skin is milky white. When the fruit matures, the peel gradually turns orange, red or purple. Why is this happening? Because lutein and carotene are yellow, anthocyanin and lycopene are red. Different shades are formed due to different pigment content ratios. What we usually call "five-color pepper" is actually that the fruits on the same plant have different discoloration periods, thus forming a colorful "flower-shy" beauty!
History and Culture of Pepper Cultivation
Pepper and sweet pepper cultivated in China are both wild peppers native to Central and South America. It was confirmed by the International Committee on Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) in 1983 that this pepper was domesticated in Mexico. Archaeologists have found that the Aztecs in America began to cultivate and use it as early as 7000 years ago. At the end of 15, that is, 1493 (equivalent to the sixth year of Hongzhi in China) was introduced to Europe with the return of Columbus' expedition to America. Pepper was originally used as a substitute for pepper. At that time, black pepper imported from Asia was expensive, so pepper quickly took root and blossomed in Europe. It was soon introduced to India. It was introduced to Korea and Japan in the late16th century.
Pepper in China was introduced in the first half of the Ming Dynasty. Originally known as pepper. There are early written materials in the works of Gao Lian, a poet and dramatist in Ming Dynasty. For example, Eight Notes on Respect for Life published in the 19th year of Ming Shenzong Wanli (A.D. 159 1) said in the "Four Seasons Flower Festival" section of Yan Xianqing's Appreciation Notes: "Pepper: overgrown with weeds and white flowers; The child (referring to the fruit) is bald, spicy and red, which is very impressive. " It can be seen that pepper was only used for viewing at first, and then it was used for eating. The qunfang spectrum (162 1 year) also recorded "pepper, pepper".
In ancient times, spicy was written as bundle, which means gathering. The ancients combined the words "Xin" and "Shu" and created "spicy" by means of "knowledge" to express its connotation of "Xin is hotter". Pepper is rich in capsaicin and has a strong spicy taste, so it is also called "three spicy" with pepper and pepper. So why are these "three spicy" all named after "Chili"? It turns out that in ancient times, China only had the local spicy seasoning pepper. Zanthoxylum bungeanum is a woody plant of Zanthoxylum in Rutaceae, and its fruit is used for seasoning. Its red to purple fruit is called "bone-protruding fruit" in botany This small fruit has a cracked skin and contains round seeds. The appearance of seeds is very similar to that of soybeans; Soybean was called "fennel" in ancient times, so the ancients named it Zanthoxylum bungeanum because of its fruit color "flower", seeds like soybeans and wood like "pepper". Later, China introduced pepper from South Asia and Southeast Asia. On the other hand, pepper is a vine, belonging to the genus Piper of Piperaceae. It is flavored with spherical berries. Because its shape and spicy taste are a bit like pepper. Therefore, it was named "Pepper" after it was introduced into China, and its word "Hu" was the symbol of the introduced area. It was not until the introduction of Solanaceae pepper in Ming Dynasty, combined with the introduction of regional signs, that the spicy taste of its fruit was outstanding. Fan, also known as Zanthoxylum bungeanum, is also known as pepper.
At first, in China, it was officially called Fanjiao. Except for Gao Lian's works, it was called Fanjiao in the Ming Dynasty classics such as Nong Zheng Quan Shu, Tong Ya and Shi Ben Cao, and in the Qing Dynasty masterpieces such as Guang Fang Qun Pu, Hua Jing and Shi Shi Tong Kao. The title of pepper first appeared in Tang Xianzu's famous play Peony Pavilion in Ming Dynasty. It's at Exit 23. There are 38 nicknames of famous flowers in the Qupai of "Home Rolling in the Backyard", including the lyrics of "Pepper Flowers … Shade". It was not until the Qing Dynasty that Wu took pepper as an official name and included it in the textual research of plant names. It is still in use today. Other nicknames named after peppers have been pepper eggplant and pepper tiger in Qing Dynasty. Among them, eggplant and horn are the manifestations of fruit morphology; The tiger, however, is powerful. The title of hot tiger shows the intensity of spicy taste. Now, the names of pepper, cape pepper, red pepper, pointed pepper and pepper corner have been added in the north and south.
Pepper may be introduced through three ways: first, it is planted in Shaanxi and Gansu through the Silk Road, so it is called "Qinjiao"; The second is to cultivate in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and other places through the South Asian sea passage, and then gradually promote it; Thirdly, when Zheng He went to the Western Seas, he was directly introduced to China from Nanyang, and there are still many traces of Zheng He all over Nanyang. The book Ying Ya Sheng Lan written by Ma Huan, Zheng He's entourage, clearly and concretely recorded the situation of pepper, which can be used as evidence. But at present, most domestic cultivated varieties are introduced from South America. However, in southern China and tropical areas, there are also wild peppers. For example, annual peppers planted in Xishuangbanna, Simao, Lancang, Ruili and Yuanjiang in Yunnan; There is also a semi-wild type of millet pepper (a perennial pepper tree) in the virgin forest of Xishuangbanna. This kind of pickled pepper and millet pepper are both local and should not be "imported". After long-term domestication and cultivation, it has gradually become a cultivated variety.
Nutrition and Edible Value of Pepper
Pepper is not only unique in flavor, but also extremely rich in nutrition. Every 100g contains water 85.5g, protein 1.9g, fat 0.3g, carbohydrate1.6g, calcium 20mg, phosphorus 40mg, iron 1.2mg, potassium 300mg and sodium. In addition, it also contains thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinic acid and so on. According to laboratory analysis, pepper also contains a variety of capsaicin and rutin, five vanillin, citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acid and other chemical components. Therefore, as a vegetable or condiment, pepper can not only provide a variety of nutrients to meet human needs, but also enhance the function of capillaries, stimulate oral mucosa, promote saliva secretion and amylase activity, so it has obvious effects of promoting appetite and enhancing digestion. In addition, the tender leaves of pepper are also rich in calcium, carotene and vitamin C, which has a special spicy taste and can nourish the liver and improve eyesight. It has become a fashionable vegetable, which is more expensive than pepper in Hong Kong.
Pepper, as a vegetable, is not used as a main dish. In addition to cold dishes and stir-fried dishes, there are only "tiger skin pepper" and "fermented sweet pepper", and more people regard it as a side dish. Many meat dishes use pepper. Especially in Sichuan, Hunan, Gansu, Qinghai, Northeast China and other places, some places are almost not spicy and can't be eaten. I think the greatest contribution of pepper is as seasoning, such as Chili sauce, Chili oil, Chili sauce, Chili noodles, Chili juice, Chili dried and so on. Zanthoxylum bungeanum can also be made into pickled pepper, pickled pepper, pickled pepper, vinegar pepper, shrimp oil pepper and other processed products.
Pepper recipe
1. Stir-fry 250g green pepper, cooking oil, refined salt and sugar. Wash the green peppers, remove the stalks and seeds, and cut into small pieces half an inch square; Heat the oil, then add the green pepper and stir-fry until the skin of the green pepper is slightly wrinkled (not burnt), that is, add salt, sugar and a little water and stir-fry for 1 ~ 2 minutes. This dish has the effect of stimulating appetite, promoting fluid production and stimulating appetite. It is suitable for asthenia caused by deficiency-cold of spleen and stomach, epigastric cold pain, loss of appetite, dyspepsia and invasion of dampness.
2. Pepper diced pepper (peeled) 150g, 500 ml of edible oil (about 50 ml of oil), 50g of fresh pepper, cucumber 100g, and appropriate amount of onion and ginger. Choose quite lean pork and cut it into cubes and peppers. Cucumber and onion are also diced. Diced meat is mixed with yellow sauce first, then wet starch, and then fried with 70% heat until it is 70% cooked. When the diced meat is oiled, it should be constantly stirred to avoid mutual adhesion. The actual oil consumption is about 30 ml. Leave 20 ml of oil in the wok, bring it to a boil, add onion, ginger juice, salt, cucumber, fresh pepper and broth (or white water), then add the fried diced meat and cooking wine, stir fry twice, and pour the remaining wet starch into the wok and stir fry slightly. This dish is fresh, tender and delicious, and has the effect of enriching blood and benefiting qi. Suitable for people who are weak or sick and don't want to eat.
3. Stir-fried green peppers and black beans 500g of green peppers, 250g of black beans and vegetable oil 120ml. Remove the pedicel of pepper, wash it, cut it into two or three parts, fry it in a pot, put it aside, cook vegetable oil, fry it in lobster sauce at the same time, fry it until it is fragrant, then mix it with pepper and mix well. Then, out of the pot, eat with small plates. This dish has the effect of dispelling cold and appetizing. It is suitable for people suffering from exogenous cold who do not want to eat, and can also be used as an auxiliary dish for appetizing and strengthening the spleen.
4. Stir-fry green peppers and dried soybeans with 75g green peppers and 50g dried soybeans, and remove seeds from the green peppers and shred them; Dried incense is also shredded; Heat the oil to 70% heat, add green pepper and edamame, stir-fry until edamame is cooked, add seasoning and water, stir-fry for a while, and add sesame oil to serve. This dish has the effects of invigorating spleen, stimulating appetite, strengthening brain and increasing intelligence, and is an ideal nutritious food. Regular consumption has a certain effect on strengthening the body and prolonging life.
5. Spicy chicken Sichuan red pepper 100g, chicken 500g. Eviscerate the chicken and cut it into small pieces; Wash red pepper and cut into sections; Stir-fry chicken pieces in hot pot with oil, and then add appropriate amount of refined salt to stew; When the chicken is medium-cooked, add the red pepper, stir-fry and stew until cooked. This dish has the effects of invigorating qi and blood, warming the middle warmer and stimulating appetite, and is suitable for cold coagulation, abdominal pain, vomiting, loss of appetite, dyspepsia, fatigue, thirst, frequent urination and other symptoms.
Medicinal value of pepper
Chinese medicine believes that pepper is pungent and hot. 1 "Qunfangpu": It tastes very spicy. ② Yao Kecheng's Edible Materia Medica: pungent, warm and non-toxic. 3 "food should be avoided": hard work, hot. Warming the middle and dispelling cold, stimulating appetite and promoting digestion. Indications: abdominal pain due to cold coagulation, vomiting, diarrhea, chilblain and scabies. ① Yao Kecheng's Materia Medica of Food: digestion overnight, relieving depression and appetizing, eliminating evil and killing fishy smell. ② Medicine mirror: washing frozen furuncle, bathing cold furuncle, cold diarrhea of large intestine. ③ Pharmacological test: warming the middle warmer to dispel cold, expelling wind and sweating, dispelling cold addiction, resolving phlegm and eliminating dampness. 4 "food should be taboo": warm the middle and lower qi, dispel cold and remove dampness, relieve depression and phlegm, promote digestion, kill insects and detoxify. Treat vomiting, diaphragmatic asphyxia, diarrhea and beriberi. ⑤ Drug test: It can dispel wind and promote blood circulation, dispel cold and relieve depression, guide stagnation and stop diarrhea, and wipe tinea.
Modern science has proved that capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, nordihydrocapsaicin, homocapsaicin and homodihydrocapsaicin are the spicy ingredients in pepper fruit. Nonyl vanillin, octyl vanillin; Pigments are cryptoxanthin, capsanthin, trace capsanthin and carotene; It also contains vitamin C, citric acid, tartaric acid and malic acid. Seeds contain solanine and solanine, and may also contain alkaloids such as solanine, solanine and solanine. External use can treat chilblain, rheumatalgia, lumbago, arthralgia, etc. And oral administration can treat indigestion, flatulence and cold pain.
Medicinal mechanism of pepper
1 Effect on digestive system Pepper tincture or capsaicin can be taken orally as a stomach tonic, which can promote appetite and improve digestion. Pepper can stimulate the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract, enhance gastrointestinal peristalsis, promote the secretion of digestive juice, improve appetite and inhibit abnormal fermentation in the intestine. Some medical and nutrition experts in China investigated Hunan and Sichuan provinces and found that the incidence of gastric ulcer in these provinces and regions, which generally like to eat Chili, is much lower than that in other provinces and regions. This is because pepper can stimulate the release of prostaglandin E2, which is beneficial to promote the regeneration of gastric mucosa, maintain the function of gastrointestinal cells, and prevent and treat gastric ulcer.
2 prevent gallstones. Eating green peppers regularly can prevent gallstones. Green peppers are rich in vitamins, especially vitamin C, which can convert excess cholesterol into bile acids, thus preventing gallstones. People who have suffered from gallstones should eat more green peppers rich in vitamin C, which has a certain effect on relieving the disease.
3. Improve heart function. Taking pepper as the main raw material, adding garlic, hawthorn extract and vitamin E to make a "health care product", which can improve heart function and promote blood circulation after eating. In addition, eating Chili regularly can reduce blood lipid and thrombosis, which has a certain preventive effect on cardiovascular diseases.
4 lower blood sugar. Jamaican scientists have proved through experiments that capsaicin can significantly reduce blood sugar levels.
Pepper has the function of losing weight. Pepper contains a substance called capsaicin, which can promote hormone secretion, thus accelerating metabolism to achieve the effect of burning body fat, thus playing a role in losing weight. In the Japanese market, there are many kinds of pepper products suitable for women to eat.
6 antibacterial and insecticidal effects capsaicin has a significant inhibitory effect on Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis, but has no effect on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Its branches and leaves have no antibacterial effect and only slightly inhibit mycobacterium tuberculosis. 10 ~ 20% Zanthoxylum bungeanum decoction has the efficacy of killing bedbugs.
7 Redness: As a liniment, external use has a calming effect on the skin, which makes the local blood vessels of the skin reflexively expand and promotes local blood circulation. It can reduce body temperature and relieve muscle pain by sweating, so it has strong antipyretic and analgesic effects.
Tincture can be used for chilblain; However, some people think that pepper only strongly stimulates sensory nerve endings, causing warmth, and has little effect on blood vessels. It does not foam at high concentrations and cannot be regarded as a red agent.
8 Effects on the circulatory system Spicy substances (ginger, pepper, especially prickly ash) can stimulate the taste receptors of human tongue and reflexively cause blood pressure to rise (especially diastolic pressure), but have no obvious effect on pulse.
Intravenous injection of capsaicin or capsaicin into anesthetized cats and dogs can cause transient blood pressure drop, slow heartbeat and dyspnea, which is caused by stimulating chemoreceptors or extensors in the lungs and coronary arteries.
It can directly excite the isolated guinea pig atrium and contract the blood vessels in the hind limbs of rats.
Pepper can prevent and treat cancer because it is rich in vitamin C and trace element cobalt. The former has anti-cancer and analgesic effects, while the latter can activate metabolism and promote the vitality of hematopoietic system. Cobalt also participates in the synthesis of vitamin B 12 in vivo, and can inhibit the growth of malignant tumor cells in vivo. Capsaicin in pepper can be transformed into a special compound after entering the blood circulation and reaching the liver, which can absorb carcinogens.
Other effects of 10 It has been reported abroad that after eating food (unknown variety) with red pepper as seasoning for 3 weeks, the plasma free hydrocortisone can be significantly increased, and the urine excretion can also be increased; But also reduce that fibrinolytic activity.
The above-ground water decoction has exciting effect on isolated rat uterus.
Pepper small prescription
① Treatment of dysentery and watery diarrhea: spicy eggplant 1 piece. If you take pills, use a hot tofu bag in the morning to swallow them. (Compilation of Medical Cases)
(2) Malaria treatment: Chili seeds, one per year, limited to 20 capsules, three times a day, with boiled water for three to five days. (Wuxian Party Selection)
③ Treatment of chilblain: Peel and paste the spicy tomato skin. (Compendium)
④ Treatment of poisonous snake injury: Chew eleven or twelve pieces of spicy eggplant raw, that is, reduce swelling and relieve pain, and the wound will heal if there is blisters and yellow water. Eating this tastes sweet but not spicy. Or chew and smear the wound, and it can also reduce swelling and relieve pain. ("Hundred Herbs Mirror")
5 alopecia areata: chop 6 grams of pepper, soak it in 50 ml of distilled liquor 10 day, filter to remove residue, rub off bald spots, and count the numbers every day.
Treatment of lumbago and leg pain: equal amount of Chili powder and vaseline, add appropriate amount of yellow wine to make paste, apply it on oil paper and stick it on the affected area.
Pepper taboo Pepper contains a chemical substance, which has a two-way regulation effect of anti-cancer and carcinogenesis. These different opinions are recorded for reference. However, from the perspective of Chinese medicine, pepper is hot and spicy, and heat helps yang. For example, it is interesting to say in Diet Spectrum: "Many people are addicted to it and often cause diseases. Yin deficiency and internal heat, especially fasting. " Cancer patients should eat less or not. The so-called "internal heat due to yin deficiency" or "excessive fire due to yin deficiency" is not a disease name, but a pathology of traditional Chinese medicine, which can be seen in various diseases, such as tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, hyperthyroidism, lupus erythematosus, Sjogren's syndrome, hypertension, cancer, pinkeye, aphtha, climacteric syndrome and so on. , and all can be manifested as "yin deficiency with excessive fire" or "yin deficiency with excessive heat". Of all these things, peppers are especially suitable for fasting.
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