147 



THE YIETUES OF PEPPEE. 



Cayenne pepper, made from the ripe pods 

 of the Capsicum annuum,or Guinea pepper, 

 enters largely (ofteu unsuspected) into the 

 soups, hashes, stews, meat-pies, and gra- 

 vies that appear on English dinner tables ; 

 but its medicinal uses, in this country, are 

 nearly confined to furnishing a gargle, 

 wliich is found to be very efticacious in 

 strengthening and restoring the voice when 

 weakened or lost by a relaxed sore throat. 



In the tropical countries from whence 

 we procure capsicums, and where their 

 cultivation is of the easiest kind, they are 

 both abundantly used as an article of diet, 

 and are employed as tonics and stimulants, 

 externally as well as internally. Equato- 

 rial cookery is almost saturated wich va- 

 rious peppers. Not the natives only, but 

 European residents, find them beneficial, 

 and even carry prejudice so far as to re- 

 gard their favourite spices as cooling. Fer- 

 mented liquors are prepared from them. 

 Several sauces and pickles, consisting 

 mainly of capsicum, exist, v/liich are 

 scarcely known except to persons who have 

 dwelt in, or who have close correspondence 

 ■with, hot countries. 



A tropical labourer will eat a capsicum 

 pod with his bread or his rice, just as in 

 the south of Europe, a working man will 

 make a meal off raw onions and garlic and 

 bread ; in the north of France, off bread 

 and salad ; in Germany, ofi" bread and raw 

 bacon or ham ; in England, off bread and 

 cheese, or, in maritime towns, off bread 

 and cured fish uncooked. A «!tee^ preserve 

 is made v/ith ripe capsicums ; gathered 

 green, they are pickled in vinegar, like 

 capers or gherkins. The latter preparation 

 is in some esteem with us ; but we are al- 

 together ignorant of the very strong broths 

 or decoctions, made from capsicum, which 

 the natives of the Indian Archipelago 

 drink with pleasure to themselves, although 

 a European would believe himself poisoned 

 if he were to swallow a single spoonful. In 

 the Portuguese settlements, these stomachic 

 potions are called CuWo di pimento, or hot- 

 pepper drink. 



The Indian mode of preparing capsicum 

 pods, as a seasoning for table use, is to dry 

 them slowly, first in tlie shade, and after- 

 wards mixed with flour in a vessel, by the 

 aid of fire. They then cut them with 

 scissors into very small shreds, and to every 

 ounce of shredded pods they add a pound 

 of the finest flour, aud knead them with 

 leaven into a dough or paste. When the 

 lump is well fermented and risen, it is put 

 into the oveu j when baked, it is cut into 



slices, and baked again, like biscuits ; 

 lastly, it is reduced to a fine powder, which 

 is passed through a sieve. This powder, 

 according to Oriental belief, is an admirable 

 condiment ; it excites appetite, helps di- 

 gestion, and prevents the constitution from 

 stagnating and languishing. The Mexi- 

 cans make a small species of long-pepper, 

 or Chili pepper, enter into the composition 

 of their cakes and pastes of chocolate. 



In medicine, another kind of pepper is 

 used by Ethiopian negroes to cure the 

 toothache. Slave-masters, in the Indian 

 islands, use decoctions of the true Guinea 

 pepper to wash the backs of negroes w!io 

 have been flayed with the whip — not as an 

 additional punishment and torture, but to 

 prevent their wounds from gangrening. 

 The "West Indian doctors frequently employ 

 the leaves of the allspice tree, or Jamaica 

 pepper, in baths, for the legs of dropsical 

 patients, and in fomentations for limbs 

 attacked by paralysis. Black pepper (that 

 which the Dutch bring from the islands of 

 Java, Sumatra, Malabar, etc.), in powder, 

 is an innocent agent for banishing insect 

 parasites from the heads of children and 

 grown-up persons ; it is also excellent for 

 the preservatioir of furs from the ravages of 

 mites and of moths in their larva state ; for 

 no moth is known to devour hair or skin 

 after it has once become a perfect insect. 

 Galen vaunted pepper as good against in- 

 testinal worms ; Uioscorides as a cure for 

 fevers, which has been confirmed by mo- 

 dern practitioners, who give the pepper 

 whole as well as in powder, and find that 

 it possesses properties similar to those of 

 quinine. Modern chemists have discovered 

 that pepper contains a peculiar principle, 

 which they c&W pilfer ine. Pepper was also 

 an important ingredient in several obsolete 

 medicines and pills, which enjoyed in their 

 day as high a renown as any of those which 

 are glorified now in advertisements. From 

 these facts, it is clear that certain spices 

 afford an active curative agent, which may 

 render great service in skilful hands ; in 

 unskilful ones, it might probably afford an 

 additional illustration of the danger of 

 playing with edge-tools. 



'Ihe object of this paper is to publish a 

 very elegant and useful application of the 

 liealing powers of capsicum, made by the 

 late lamented Monsiefir Charles William 

 De Rheims, a gentleman of well-known 

 leaimiug and scientific attainments, residing 

 in Calais, his native town. He liberally 

 allows the writer to communicate to the 

 world the mode of preparing this invaluable 



