Story by Sharon Hudgins A century from now when historians look back at how we coped with the 2020 pandemic, two things will stand out: toilet paper and home cooking. During the past three months, many of us have “sheltered in place” at home, willingly or not. Early into the lockdown, bloggers began posting stories about how they planned to …
Stir Crazy | Cooking to Cope with Cabin Fever
By Sharon Hudgins Recently, as the Covid-19 pandemic has spread and we’ve been asked to follow strict “stay-at-home” directives, I’ve been thinking about other times in my life when I’ve been isolated in a house or apartment building with other people, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes unwillingly but of necessity. And I remembered how cooking and sharing meals together was one of …
Historical Uses of Cayenne
For millennia, cayenne in its various forms has been considered to be beneficial to mankind both as a food and a medicine. Researching in Google Books, I came across the following uses for cayenne, which has become a generic term for any hot red chile powder. The Cayenned Canaries At any ordinary bird show, canaries of a special breed the …
When Hot Sauce is a Cure: Mandram and Asher Sauce
Many folk remedies are made with chile peppers, as I detailed with two coauthors in The Healing Powers of Peppers (Three Rivers Pres, 1998). We discovered chile peppers being used in infusions, syrups, teas, tinctures, liniments, ointments, poultices, salves, and oils. Perhaps the most unusual treatments were two hot sauces, one to improve the appetite and the other to combat …
The Great Chile Pepper Health Debate
If you’ve read some of the other articles in the Chiles and Health section of the SuperSite, you’re probably aware of just how contentious the debates have been, especially when chile peppers are accused of causing health problems like cancer and ulcers. They don’t of course, but the debate about the healing properties versus the “damaging” aspects of chile pods …