Chile pepper native to South America. At the end of the XV century Columbus discovered the American continent and brought the pepper to Europe. At the end of the Ming dynasty (1386-1644) Chile was imported to China.
Currently, pepper is a part of our everyday life. It is also called chili pepper, capsicum, hot pepper, or pepper plant. Peppers can be consumed directly as food or used as spices for seasoning many dishes. The Chinese province of Sichuan, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Jiangxi and other provinces are known areas in which I believe that “no sharp no pleasure from food.”
Raw and fried foods seasoned with chili powder, butter, hot pepper, hot sauce, paprika or pickled chili peppers — all common cooking methods. Different peppers have different colors, the most common is red pepper. In China to popular varieties of peppers include the bell pepper shrub, Sichuan, archinto, Cayenne pepper, pepper RAM’s horn, chuangzao (“pepper turned to the sky”), sweet peppers and other varieties.
What nutrients are in “acuteencom”?
1. Vitamin C
When we talk about the nutritional benefits of chili pepper, the “commendable” is its richness in vitamin C, which sets it apart from other vegetables.
Green pepper contains 62 mg of vitamin C per 100 grams, while red pepper has a higher content of vitamin C — up to 144 mg per 100 grams, which is 7 times more than is contained in the tomatoes and 4 times more than in oranges.
Not even worth talking about the benefits of vitamin C. Its role as an antioxidant and protect blood vessels of heart and brain have long been known.
2. Carotene
The content of carotene in Chile is also very high, which helps to maintain the health of the eyes and skin.
3. Other nutrients
In addition, a tiny chili pepper also contains nutrients such as b vitamins, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc and selenium.
4. Capsaicin
Hot peppers not only contain many nutrients, but also has a special active substance — capsaicin, which gives the sharpness.
Many studies show that capsaicin has a variety of physiological functions, including increased appetite, aid digestion, protection of the gastric mucosa, the prevention and treatment of stomach ulcers, accelerate fat metabolism and weight reduction. It also helps as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory, acts as a means to reduce itching, relieve rheumatism and protect the health of joints. Capsaicin lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, protect the cardiovascular system and prevents the likelihood of developing cancer.
Since the properties are actively studied capsaicin, natural capsaicin, derived from Cayenne pepper, and synthetic capsaicin were important by-products of hot pepper, and currently they are widely used in food industry and medicine.
How to “submit” the king of vitamin C?
Chilli is an amazing vegetable, and the people who love him, not get pleasure from eating if it is not spiced, and those who hated him still can not be avoided. Those who can and likes to eat spicy food, the chili is probably a frequent guest at the dinner table, but they are unlikely to eat it raw.
Why I say so? As mentioned earlier, chili is the king of vitamin C, but vitamin C is quite unstable element. Inappropriate preparation of pepper it can be easily destroyed. So just the high content of vitamin C is insufficient, most importantly, he reached the stomach.
To as little as possible to destroy the vitamin C in chili peppers is best to eat it raw. If you want to roast it is best to do it as quickly as possible.
A I love to eat hot sauce, butter, chili and other foods made with Chile. This method of use acute not only greatly reduces the content of vitamins in food, but also increases the amount of salt absorbed during a meal that brings health benefits just because of the amount of salt, which you should not eat too much.
But not all are able to enjoy the spiciness of chili peppers. What about those who can’t eat spicy?
In fact, in the preparation of cold dishes is perfectly OK to replace the Chile pepper sweet bell pepper. In a sweet pepper contains less capsaicin, but vitamin C, carotene and other nutrients in it as much as in Chile. In addition, the colored peppers have a rich color, which can cause a joyful mood, which is especially attractive to children and encourages them to eat more vegetables.
MA Huangshan (马冠生) — Dean of the faculty of nutrition and food hygiene, Institute of public health of Peking University
