by Melissa T. Stock and Kellye Hunter Treat your head with something hot. While the thought of eating chile may make your mouth water, the idea of chiles in your eyes or nose is enough to make you cry–even though it can be good for you. In the West Indies, for example, the pressed juice of chiles is …
The Healing Powers of Hot Peppers: Part 2, Capsaicin as a Cold Remedy
by Melissa T. Stock and Kellye Hunter It’s four a.m. and you can’t sleep. You can’t breathe. All motor skills are useless except the ones necessary to use tissue. You can, however, manage to sneeze, snort, hack, cough and sniffle. A lot. Even your dog is beginning to dislike you due to the rude and loud noises vibrating from your …
The Healing Powers of Hot Peppers: Part 1, Cayenne as a Curative
by Melissa T. Stock and Kellye Hunter “And the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine” (Ezekiel 47:12) An entry from the journal of Priddy Meeks, a doctor in mid-nineteenth century Utah, sets the scene for our special report on the medicinal uses of chile peppers: “He reached Parowan with both feet frozen above …
Bush Medicine: Folk Cures with Chile Peppers
By Dave DeWitt Illustration by Harald Zoschke One of the most enjoyable chile research experiences I ever had was to study chile pepper folk cures used in various cultures. At that time the World Wide Web was not up and running, so I had to do the research the hard way–by going to libraries, going to the stacks, finding books–especially in …
Almost Busted
Almost Busted by Dave DeWitt (Note: This article originally appeared in the July/August, 1995 issue of Chile Pepper magazine. I have slightly expanded it.) Back in our March/April, 1991 issue, indoor chile grower Cap Farmer warned that the use of high-intensity discharge (HID) grow lamps could possibly bring a visit from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), but I thought …