380 SPICES 



CHAP. 



some years ago as Nepal pepper, and having the very 

 pleasant characteristic flavour of that spice, was of a 

 bright orange-yellow colour, possibly made from yellow 

 capsicums. 



Zanzibar is also said to give a brownish coloured 

 powder. 



The method of making cayenne pepper in the West 

 Indies is described in Drury's Useful Plants of India, 

 from Lindley's Commercial Products of the Madras 

 Presidency. 



The ripe fruits are dried in the sun, and then in an 

 oven after bread has been baked in it, in an earthen or 

 stone pot with flour between the strata of pods. When 

 quite dry they are cleaned from the flour, and beaten 

 or ground to a fine powder. To every ounce of this 

 1 Ib. of wheat flour is added, and it is made into small 

 cakes with leaven. They are baked again that they 

 may be hard and dry as a biscuit, and then they are 

 beaten into powder and sifted. They are packed in 

 jars in a compressed state, so as to exclude air, for 

 exportation. 



USES OF CAYENNE PEPPER 



The chief use of capsicums is as a spice on account 

 of their pungency and pleasant flavour. The fruit is 

 also used fresh or dry, cut up finely in curries, and is 

 often used pickled, either alone or in a mixture of 

 pickles. As a pickle it is often used green and unripe, 

 as well as fully ripe. The cold chilies, such as Capsi- 

 cum grossum, are a favourite vegetable. They are 

 hardly or not at all pungent and have a thick rind, and 

 are often stuffed with force-meat and cooked as a 

 vegetable. They form an important part of the 

 Hungarian dish Paprika, and are extensively cultivated 

 in Southern Spain and Portugal for the vegetable 

 market. Mr. MacEwen in the Pharmaceutical Society's 

 Journal (December 11, 1897) says: "Probably more 

 cayenne pepper is used for feeding birds than for any 



