CAYENNE, OR CHILLI. 9 



Index of refraction. Determine at 40 C., as described on page 131, 

 Bulletin 107, Revised, Bureau of Chemistry. (The oil is prepared 

 as above.) 



CAYENNE, OB CHILLI. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



Cayenne or chilli is a small fruited pepper, a variety of Capsicum 

 frutescens L., a species of Capsicum, which is a genus of the family 

 Solanaceae, indigenous to the American tropics, but now grown or 

 cultivated in nearly all tropic and subtropic countries. It is char- 

 acterized by its extreme pungency and the small size of the pods. 

 The leading commercial varieties (1911) are African and Japanese. 



The African cayenne or chillies come chiefly from the ports of 

 Mombasa and Zanzibar, British East Africa, and are usually desig- 

 nated in the trade by the name of the port from which shipped; 

 they are from 10 to 15 mm in length, dark, dull red in color, and ex- 

 tremely pungent; they are ground for use. A few of the samples 

 contained some unattached stems and calyxes. 



The Japanese chillies come from the port of Kobe, Japan; these 

 are from 15 to 40 mm in length, bright red in color, clean, contain- 

 ing very few stems or calyxes, and are used chiefly hi the unground 

 condition for the preparation of the so-called " chilli sauce." 



Cayenne or chilli contains a fixed, bland oil, found in both pods 

 and seeds, but more abundantly in the latter, considerable resinous 

 and mucilaginous material, a red coloring matter confined to the 

 shell, and the active principle, capsaicin, to which the pungency is 

 due. The capsaicin is present in both the seeds and the shell, but 

 the larger part is found in the placentae. The red coloring matter 

 is soluble in ether, petroleum ether, carbon bisulphid, and chloroform, 

 but very slightly soluble in alcohol. 



ANALYSES. 



In addition to the African and Japanese varieties which make up 

 the major portion of the importations, two other apparently different 

 varieties were examined. N. Y. 25482 is a nearly round cayenne 

 or chilli from India, 15 to 25 mm in length and 10 to 15 mm in width, 

 belonging to C. frutescens baccatum L., and known to the trade 

 under the name " cherry." The color of the pods varies from dark 

 red to a brownish yellow; the sample was clean and had no stems or 

 calyxes. B. 4484 is a capsicum from Japan and is from 45 to 65 mm 

 in length, bright red in color, clean, and had the stems and calyxes 

 attached to the pods. Analysis indicates this to be a sweet red 

 pepper. 



In order to determine the characteristic taste and flavor and to 

 find out definitely what part or parts of the pod contained the cap- 

 saicin, pods from, different samples were broken up into the following 

 parts: SheUs, seeds, and placentae. The shells from* the Japanese 

 67424 Bull. 16313 2 



