Hot Chilli

The other day I was talking to a customer about chili peppers and it reminded me of the story of my brother N and his first encounter with chili.

Growing up on the farm we had a huge vegetable garden and heaps of fruit trees. My brother and I were always munching on some form of fresh, home-grown produce. I tell you, there is nothing like picking something off the bush and chomping straight into it. Anyway, mum always grew capsicum (what the Americans call Bell Pepper) and they were a favourite of N's. Mum was always complaining that there were never any capsicums available for dinner since they'd already been pilfered.

When N was about 12 we were in Perth and visited the massive markets at Fremantle. At one end of the building is all the fruit and produce stalls. A big heap of long, bright red chili peppers caught N's eye and he asked mum what they were. She told him they were chillies and were related to capsicums. Since N loved capsicum he announced that he wanted to try a chili. Mum allowed him to buy one but warned him that they are really hot. N was still determined and selected a good looking fruit.

Mum cautioned N to just nibble off a tiny, tiny piece to test the heat....did N listen to her??

Nope, nuh-uh, no way...he bit off at least half the chili in a single bite!! He crunched away while we all watched with great interest to see the response. It seemed to take ages!

However, soon we saw the message travelling from N's tongue to his brain. OMG, YEOW!! Poor N was left gasping in pain and bewilderment. We didn't really use much in the way of spices at home so N hadn't really encountered hot and spicy before. It was a nasty surprise!! It took something like three bottles of water to put that fire out but N lost all interest in food for several hours afterwards.