Conference turris::cooks

	Here's some of the info on chili peppers that I'd promised to 
	enter.  This is excerpted from the book "The Food Pharmacy", by
	Jean Carper.  These findings are based on present medical research
	being carried out on various foods.  Therefore, at the present, the
	results are not necessarily conclusive, but based upon what is known
	from the results of experimentation.

	It's fairly long, and perhaps I got carried away, but I hope you
	find it interesting.

	Regards, Larry

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	Possible therapeutic benefits:

	- Excellent medicine for the lungs
	- Acts as an expectorant
	- Prevents and alleviates chronic bronchitis and emphysema
	- Acts as a decongestant
	- Helps dissolve blod clots
	- Kills pain
	- Induces euphoria

        How much ?  Ten to twenty drops of red hot chili sauce in a glass
	of water daily or a hot spicy meal three times a week can help keep
	airways free of congestion, preventing or treating chronic bronchitis
	or colds.  Two teaspoons of jalapeno pepper can rev up the blood clot
	dissolving mechanism, protecting against heart disease and stroke.

	- Lung cleansers -

	Indeed, hot peppers may prolong life, according to Dr. Irwin Ziment,
	a pulmonary expert who prescribes chili peppers in various forms for
	his patients with chronic bronchitis and emphysema. "Sometimes the
	effects are profound," he notes.  Chili peppers and other spicy foods,
	he says, probably because of the pungent component capsaicin - the 
	stuff that burns the mouth - are expectorants just like common drugs.
	Dr. Ziment calls hot spices nature's Robitussin.

	According to Dr. Ziment, chili peppers, being an irritant in the
	stomach, automatically signal the bronchial cells to pour out fluids
	making lung and throat secretions less sticky and thick.  He is 
	convinced that eating hot chilis helps prevent the onset of chronic
	bronchitis and makes it easier to manage if it develops.

	 Indeed, in experiments in animals, Swedish researchers have found 
	that a dose of capsaicin desensitized the lungs - blocked some of the 
	swelling damage to trachea and bronchial cells and the broncho-
	constriction caused by cigarette smoke and other irritants. 

	- Painkiller - 

	Our ancestors were right to use hot pepper extract as a local
	anaesthesia for toothache and to cure conjunctivitis.  Now scientists
	have tracked the precise neurological mechanism by which the 
	capsaicin in the hot peppers suppresses pain.  Capsaicin induces a
	reduction in nerve cells of a neurotransmitter called substance P
	that relays pain sensations to the central nervous system.  Thus,
	capsaicin short-circuits the perception of pain. Scientific experiments
	confirm that applying capsaicin to the nerves drains dental pulp of
	substance P, and thus reduces pain sensation.

	- Heart Peppers -

	The Thais use capsicum chili peppers as a seasoning and as an 
	appetizer with meals; thus their blood is infused with chili pepper
	compounds several times a day. Noting that German researchers as 
	early as 1965 found chili peppers good for the blood as a fibrinolytic
	(clot-dissolving) stimulant, Thai physicians have long credited the
	regular consumption of chili peppers as a reason that thromboembolism
	(life threatening blood-clots) are rare among Thais, particularly 
	when compared with Americans. To test this theory, Sukon Visudhiphan,
	M.D., and his colleagues at the Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok made some
	rice flour noodles and fortified each 200 grams (about a cup and a 1/3)
	with two teaspoons of fresh ground capsicum jalapeno pepper. They fed 
	the hot-pepper noodles to 16 volunteers and plain noodles to 4 others.

	Decidedly, the blood-clot activity increased almost immediately in 
	eaters of the hot-pepper laced noodles; no blood changes occurred in
	those who ate the plain noodles.  However, thirty minutes after 
	eating, the clot-dissolving activity was back to normal. In later 
	experiments, the Indian investigators found far greater clot dissolving
	activity in 88 Thais compared with 55 Americans living in Thailand.
	Americans had more blood fibrinogen - the clotting substance - and
	less clot-dissolving activity, making them more susceptible to arterial
	blockage.  Further, studies in rabbits by other Indian biochemists AT
	the Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore found that
	both dry red pepper and pure capsaicin lowered blood cholesterol
	apparently by suppressing the liver's production of cholesterol. 

	Follow-up 1985 studies discovered that capsaicin depresses cholesterol
	and triglycerides even when fed to animals along with cholesterol
	rich food. The capsaicin overpowered the expected damaging effect of 
	the fatty foods.

	- Blocks Pain, brings pleasure -

	At the same time that chili peppers produce pain in the mouth they 
	send signals to the brain that kill pain.  If you've ever felt a 
	certain "high" after eating hot peppers, there may be a good reason
	according to Paul Rozin, a psychologist at the University of 
	Pennsylvania.  It's because the burning pain on the tongue and throat
	excites the brain to secrete endomorphin - a natural morphine - which
	blocks pain sensations and induces a kind of euphoria. Endorphins are
	the same brain chemicals credited with so-called "runner's high."

	Eventually, says Dr. Rozin, who has studied spices in Mexico and the 
	US, some people who regularly eat chili peppers "condition" themselves
	to produce the pleasurable endomorphins in higher and higher doses.
	In other words, they become addicted to the pleasure brought by the 
	excessive endomorphin.

	- Learning to like it hot -

	Start with small doses. If you want to get the medicinal benefits of 
	chili peppers but can't stand the heat, try a little at a time.
	Experts say virtually everybody can gradually build up a tolerance
	to the hot taste and learn to love it.

	- A hot bonus for the calorie conscious -

	Hot spicy foods may give you an unexpected bonus - an increased 
	metabolic rate that burns off calories faster.  It's no secret that
	certain food constituents can speed up metabolism, the process that 
	produces heat by burning off calories.  In a test with 12 volunteers,,
	British reaearchers at Oxford Polytechnic found that adding three 
	grams of hot chili sauce and three grams of ordinary yellow mustard
	(about 3/5 of a tsp of each) to a meal caused the subjects to increase
	their metabolic rate an average 25%, burning an average forty-five 
	more calories in the following three hours. One person burned up 10%
	more calories or 76 out of a 766 calorie breakfast after adding the 
	hot stuff.
	

	- Possible adverse effects -

	Ulcers ? If you don't have ulcers, there is no evidence hot peppers 
	harm the stomach, but red chili peppers may aggravate ulcers. However,
	a report in the British Medical Journal found no clinical ill effects.
	
	A group of 25 people with ulcers ate a normal diet and took a prescribed
	antacid. Another group of 25 took the antacid but added red chili
	pepper at every meal.  After a month the duodenal ulcers of 80% of both
	groups had healed equally.

        
	According to reports in medical journals, some people after eating 
	lots of hot chili peppers have a burning of the anus, specially 
	during bowel movements. It was discovered during a jalapeno pepper
	eating contest in Texas.  It even has a medical name: "jaloproctitis"
	Such hot peppers woud be ill advised for hemorrhoid sufferers.


	Cancer risk or protection ? Eating high amounts of red chili powder
	by men in India was linked in a 1987 study to higher rates of cancer
	of the oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, and larnyx. Animals fed
	extremely high doses of red chili powder (one percent of the diet) -
	amounts far exceeding what humans could tolerate - exhibited more 
	tumors. On the other hand, says researcher Dr. Terry Lawson, University
	of Nebraska Medical Center, small doses of capsaicin actually acts as
	antioxidants to block cell damage, possibly preventing cancer. It's
	not unusual, he notes, for high doses and low doses of the same 
	chemical to have opposite effects in fighting cancer.

    In an average week, I go trough a jar of Trappey's sliced jalapenos,
    4-6 green chiles, and about 5-10 Tbs or red chile powder (not that
    "Texas" chili powder stuff you find in the store :).
    
    If my friends and I get real bored (or drunk), we'll have a Habanero
    eating contest.  No one yet has been able to eat a whole hab!
    
    --- Gavin

    	So you can tell that you're hungry when your a%%hole stops burning?
    That's an interesting idea...

    Actually,  I don't seem to have that problem.  Culturally, chile's have
    always been "big" in area's I've lived.  I'm sure it's due to the
    addicting effect related in earlier notes.
    
    --- Gavin

    	I just received a flyer in the mail from my dentist which claims
    that eating spicy foods, particularly lots of hot peppers, has been
    linked to gum diseases. Anyone's teeth falling out yet?

    ...well, I just went to the dentist Tuesday and was told my gums are
    the healthiest they've been in years.
    
    Edd

Where, in New England, would a would_be Tex/Mex cook find chile peppers,
other than Jalopeno?  I'm looking for fresh New Mexicos, at a minimum.
Are there any good Hispanic grocers in NH or MA?

Gracias,
Juan de la Nashua

    John....Alfredo's Market on West Hollis about a block off of Main St.
    in Nashua.  (Alfredo also has real chorizo and other good stuff)
    
    East/West foods in Lamplighter Square has some chiles of various types
    that will suffice but aren't south western.
    
    Your amigo, Jack
    
    

    	I got so fed up trying to find fresh chiles of various kinds that I
    started growing them a number of years back. So now I have more
    jalapenos, serranos, New Mexican, poblanos, etc. than I know what to do
    with! If you beg.....Actually, it looks like it might be a banner year
    for serranos and New Mexican chiles. So I may be talked into parting
    with some (August/September though).

    Okay, now that its Chile season (at least in Colorado), does anyone 
    have any ideas on how to use/serve Chiles. I already make Green Chile
    with pork, but I am looking for a easy casserole. 
    
    Any ideas????
    
    Regards,
    Bert Martens
    
    ps: I did read all notes listed in the directory that included Chile.
    	(I think)
    

I also would like some chili recipies.
Although I did have a casserole from the cafeteria that had layers
of chicken (cut up), green chilies, and corn tortillas. 
Unfortunately someone put a layer of GROUND BEEF! on the top layer,
which I thought was kind of strange, and then a layer of cheese. 
I might have to go up and see if I can bribe the cook behind the
grill.....

Lisa

    I have a recipe at is an old family recipe which we call "chile relleno
    casserole".  I will try to remember to bring in the recipe but the gist
    of it is this: take a 9x9 pan, layer with green chilies, than grated
    cheddar cheese, then more chilies, then more cheese, then top with a
    batter made from beaten egg whites, folded with the yolks and some
    biscuit mix to giv souffle part some stability.  Serve hot topped with
    sour cream.
    
    My favorite variation is to at bits of chopped leftover pork chops to
    the cheese layers.
    
    D!

    Don't forget to take a peek at 2B::CHILI  (hit the SELECT key)
    
    Some good recipes, even one for vegetarian chili with pecans!
    
      John