Sweet Heat
THE PEPPER PANTRY

Picture
Dave DeWitt

Paperback:
Perfect bound, xx pages, 5" x 8" 
ISBN 978-1-484843-30-2
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Ebook coming soon

About the Book

Since the ancient Mayas, sweet tastes and chiles have put their pleasure into a single palate-pleasing package. For Dave DeWitt, explaining the taste-triggers that spur those cravings is just the start. Then he offers the solution—following up with this fascinating guide to the most delicious ways you can yield to those same irresistible desires.

From incandescent candies and confections through potent puddings and joltin’ jams to cookies and cakes caliente, DeWitt covers the table with delectable ideas to feed both your taste buds and your fantasies.

You don’t have to be an addict—to chocolate or to chile—to revel in the sumptuous concoctions cooked up when he and his colleagues combine their culinary expertise.

Preview

To understand why people like to spice up their sweet stuff, we need to take a look at why people crave certain foods. My example for this is chile-infused chocolate in all its forms, a combination that goes back to the Mayas, when they served it in two forms: as a hot, bitter, drink, and one sweetened with honey, the original sweetener before the technology to produce sugar from cane was invented. There are three basic reasons we crave sugar. Stress can cause fatigue, but sugar sends waves of energy through the body, and we crave that energy. Diet is the second reason; if you have been following a low-carb or low-fat diet, your body can become resistant to insulin, sending signals to your brain to eat more sweets even though there is plenty of sugar in your blood. And the genetic makeup of your body can be responsible, too. If you have a gene called glucose transporter type 2, it triggers the craving for sweets, and there's nothing you can do about it except resist if you can.

There are also three things that trigger a craving for chocolate. First is the most obvious, flavor. Chocolate is quite delicious, with excellent mouthfeel, and most people want to repeat the chocolate experience again and again. The second trigger for craving chocolate is the pleasure it gives you by stimulating serotonin release, which can decrease anxiety and depression. Caffeine and theobromine, both found in chocolate, also can give the body a much-needed boost of energy, and anadamine, another substance found in chocolate, may duplicate the effects of marijuana, giving a little “high” to the person consuming it.

These six craving triggers are boosted when chiles are mixed with the sweetened chocolate by three more triggers. First, if chiles make totally bland foods flavorful, their addition to something delicious like chocolate strengthens the pleasure the chocolate provides, particularly for chileheads. Chiles are also unique, and add a dimension to foods that no other spice provides. And chile lovers expect their food to be spicy, so they crave chiles when it's not.

All in all, chiles increase the cravings for sweet things in general and chocolate in particular.

About the Author

If Dave DeWitt’s life were a menu, it would feature dishes as diverse as alligator stew and apple pie à la mode—not to mention the beloved chile peppers that have become the basic ingredient of so many of his projects and accomplishments.

Since starting out in the electronic media, Dave has built careers as a businessman, educator, administrator, producer, on-camera personality, author, and publisher. Currently, in addition to serving as CEO of Sunbelt Shows and co-producer of the National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show, Dave is always busy sharing his chile pepper expertise in as wide a range of forums as possible.

Besides writing more than forty books (mostly on fiery foods but also including novels, food histories, and travel guides), Dave is publisher of the Fiery Foods & BBQ Super Site (at www.fiery-foods.com), and was a founder of Chile Pepper magazine and Fiery Foods & Barbecue magazine.

From his beginning as a radio announcer, Dave went on to own audio/video production companies for which he wrote, produced, and voiced hundreds of radio and television commercials. After moving to New Mexico in 1974, he wrote and hosted the “Captain Space” TV show which beat out both “Saturday Night Live” and “Star Trek” in its Saturday midnight time slot, and, in an entirely different sphere, curated the Albuquerque Museum’s 1984 exhibit Edward S. Curtis in New Mexico.

The interest in chile peppers and spicy foods that has helped make Dave one of the foremost authorities in the world has led to such best-sellers as The Whole Chile Pepper Book, The Pepper Garden, The Hot Sauce Bible, The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia, and The Spicy Food Lover’s Bible. His latest book on the subject is Chile Trivia.

As the ultimate testament to his fame and achievement, The New York Times has declared him to be “the Pope of Peppers.” Dave is an associate professor in Consumer and Environmental Sciences on the adjunct faculty of New Mexico State University, and also serves as chair of the Board of Regents of the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.

Inside Sweet Heat

Some like it hot. Some like it chocolate. Here's a guide to the most delicious ways you can have the best of both worlds.
 
Introduction:
The Nine Cravings for Chile Chocolate

Part 1:
Incandescent Candies and
Confections

Part 2:
Potent Puddings and
Mighty Mousses

Part 3:
Joltin’ Jams and Jellies

Part 4:
Fiery Fruits and Powerful Pies

Part 5:
Bold Breads, Plus Cookies
and Cakes Caliente

Part 6:
Spices, Ices, and Creams

Part 7:
Resources