The Essential Hot Spice Guide
THE PEPPER PANTRY

Picture
Dave DeWitt

Paperback:
Perfect bound, 129 pages, 5" x 8" 
ISBN 978-1-484842-75-1
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What's inside:

People have been spicing up their foods ever since cooking began. And it’s a trend that’s heating up all across the country. Here’s the ultimate guide to the tastiest and healthiest combos from the worlds of powerful plants and creative cuisine.

Introduction: Why We Do It
Part 1: Roots: Ginger, Horseradish, and Wasabi
Part 2: Pods: Chile Peppers and Their Condiments
Part 3: Seeds: Mustard and All Kinds of Pepper
Part 4: Powders: Spice Blends, Rubs, and Curry
Part 5: Resources

About the Book

Both those who do the cooking and those who do the eating have a pantryful of theories about why the spices in this book have been added to foods since the dawn of cooking. Now, Dave DeWitt—chilehead extraordinaire —pegs the most likely rationale while regaling the reader with tantalizing tastes from the wonderful world of hot spices.
It’s a trend that’s sweeping the country, and DeWitt digs into it with relish. Roots, pods, seeds, powders—any way you like it, there’s a spice to make your palate pop. And you’ll find them all in the dishes, rubs, and curries that make this the ultimate guide to tasty—and healthy —combos of powerful plants and creative cuisine.

Preview

There are many theories about why cooks have added the spices in this book to their foods ever since the dawn of cooking:
  • To make foods taste better;
  • The “eat-to-sweat hypothesis”: Eating spicy foods makes us cool down during hot weather;
  • To disguise the taste of spoiled food;
  • To add nutritional value to food; and
  • The antimicrobial hypothesis: Spices kill harmful bacteria in food and aid in food preservation.

Which of these theories are correct?

Well, certainly not the “eat-to-sweat” hypothesis. If it's already hot outside, you don't need a spice to induce perspiration—you'll already be sweating. And despite popular belief, spices were never used to cover up spoiled or rotting foods because cooks know they won't work for that—the smell of the food turning bad would overwhelm that of the spices. The theories remaining, namely making foods taste better, added nutritional value (especially from chile peppers), and the anti-microbial hypothesis are all correct.

But perhaps the most fundamental reason for the boom in spicy foods is a major shift in the way many Americans are eating. “When we look at the broad spectrum of human flavoring practices, we see one curious correlation,” food historian and author Liz Rozin notes. “The heavier the dependence on plant or vegetable foods, the more pronounced the seasonings; the heavier the consumption of animal foods, the less pronounced the seasonings. Those cuisines that clearly demonstrate a highly spiced or complex seasoning profile—Southeast Asia, India, Africa, Mexico—all have long relied on high-plant, low-meat diets”

Of course, the U.S. was just the opposite: a culture that in its early days relied on beef, pork, and chicken as well as dairy foods. Vegetable foods in the U.S. were eaten primarily in the same regions where the cuisine was also the spiciest: the South and the Southwest. And at least three other major food trends have paralleled the move to spicy foods over the past two decades: natural foods, vegetarian foods, and low-fat foods. Meat consumption has declined as well, setting the scene for the modern return of Rozin's theory: We need the heat and flavor of chiles and other spices to make up for the lack of the flavors of meat and fat in more-spartan cuisines. The new corollary of eating in the twenty-first century might be: “The healthier you eat, the more you need to spice up the food.”

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.

Praise for The Essential Hot Spice Guide

The Essential Hot Spice Guide will prove to be a welcome and popular addition to personal, professional, family, and community library culinary reference collections. Also very highly recommended from his 'Pepper Pantry' series is Dave DeWitt's companion title Ancho And Poblano Chiles.
—MIdwest Book Review, October 2017