The Ghost chilli Is a type of pepper that is cultivated in the State of Nassam (India), being also known like: Bhoot Jolokia, Bih Jolokia, Ghost Chili, Ghost Pepper, and Naga Jolokia.
Phantom chilli crops originate from Naga land, located in the Assam area of northeastern India. Its name"booh"comes from the meaning of plant size, the word"bih"means"poison"and the term"jolokia"means"plant". The term"Bhoot jolokia"means"poisonous plant".
This pepper, was registered in the Guinness Book of Records Until 2010 as the spiciest of the planet. In peppers, the itch scale is measured in SHU (Scoville Heat Units) and was created by Wilbur Scoville , In 1912. The Scale of Bhut Jolokia exceeds 1,040,020 SHU.
Peppers are types of fruits of the genus Capsicum , Which contain a chemical component called capsaicin. This substance stimulates the heat receptor in the skin, (especially the mucous membranes) of humans. The number of Scoville units indicates the present amount of capsaicin.
The effect of this substance on the human body ensures that, at the instant of having contact with the skin or mucous membranes, the eyes close and breathing becomes difficult.
Uses of ghost chilli
Traditional Uses
This pepper has been associated with many rural agricultural activities in the region. The peasants of northern eastern India used the fruits of"Bhoot Jolokia"in different food formulations like flavoring curry, due to their high fragrance and quality itch.
Also for various medicinal treatments such as: headache, night blindness (Deorani and Sharma, 2007), rheumatism, arthritis, gastritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, digestive diseases (Sarwa et al 2012) or to reduce chronic congestion (Bhagowati and Changkija ) And has benefited from:
- Curing food without refrigeration.
- Treatments of asthma consuming in low quantity to achieve to dilate the blood vessels.
- Ointment for muscle aches.
- Toothache.
- In small amounts it is mixed with lemon juice for the summer because it allows sweating causing the body to release heat.
- Aphrodisiac stimulant.
The people who live near the forests use the powder of the pepper or their smoke to keep the elephants away from their crops. Archaeological data showed that these villages of Assam have been cultivating the"Bhoot Jolokia"for 7000 years (Basu and De, 2003).
Medical and scientific uses
It has various ethnopharmacological applications, such as anti-obesity treatments, anticancer therapy and as antioxidant and antimicrobial agent.
Capsaicinoids are secondary metabolites of plants, capsaicin being the main culprit of chilli peppers.
The concentration of capsaicin in plants is mainly affected by genetic, environmental and crop management factors. Capsaicin is used as a food additive and in pharmaceutical applications. In addition, capsaicin has been found to act as an anticancer agent.
There are epidemiological and experimental evidences that assert that dietary phytochemicals found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, spices and teas have several inhibitory effects against the initiation, promotion, progression and metastasis of cancer. These include capsaicin.
Capsaicin is a derivative of homovanilic acid, and has been shown to alter the expression of several genes involved in cancer cell survival, growth arrest, angiogenesis and metastasis.
Other uses
The Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), has been developing a whole range of riot weaponry from the chemical components of this chilli.
Capsaicin was used in the anti-riot weapons of the American police until 1989, a year in which an FBI study (prompted by the death of several criminals who were sprayed with a spray of capsaicin) caused it to be withdrawn from the market And replaced with a less toxic synthetic version.
Mythology
According to a Mayan legend, The Sun fell in love with a woman of the earth. He kidnapped her to have her just for him and locked her in a tortoise shell. The woman's father, to protect her, approached the Sun with a weapon, but the Sun had planned this in advance and had filled the father's weapon with chile.
When the girl's father took a deep breath to shoot the sun, his lungs filled with chili and began to cough violently. The father died before the projectile struck the sun.
However, when it was hot, the chile of the shot caused the body to prick the Sun, causing it to drop the woman.
She, fell back to the earth, collided with the ocean and shattered like a mirror into millions of pieces. The fish in the ocean decided to put the woman's pieces back together, carefully aligning them in a fence to give them to the sun.
The sun, however, was so hot from the chile dart that the fish could not reach for it. The only option they had was to abandon it in the sky to become the Moon, and the fish that transported it became a network of stars known as Milky Way.
History
From an ancient creation myth to a modern weapon for personal defense, pepper is considered one of the most powerful species.
Three decades after being introduced to Europe by the Spanish expeditionaries, the peppers were cultivated by Turkish monks in the Hungarian Buda region.
Paprika would eventually become so popular that, by 1820, it was used as much as ginger in Hungarian cuisine. It was then that the"goulash", a dish of 500 years old, was transformed into"paprikash", becoming the national dish of Hungary.
Before the end of the sixtieth century, the chilllies had helped to shape the culinary identities of countless world cuisines such as Cajun, Jamaican, Ethiopian, Indian, Thai, Sichuan, and Korean.
The first time a scientific report of the pepper"Bhoot Jolokia"was made in 2000 in Tezpur district, when Dr. PW Bosland performed the analysis of the fruit.
Capsicum species are not only grown as vegetables and seasonings, but are also incorporated into a number of medicinal preparations in ancient literature around the world.
'Naga chilli' or 'Bhoot Jolokia' ( Capsicum chinense Jacq. ) Is a variety of indigenous chile from the northeastern region of India and has been recognized as the hottest chili in the world. It has also been used conventionally in the treatment of various human illnesses by the indigenous peoples of northeastern India.
Peppers ( Capsicum spp. ) Is a fruit that is part of the family of the Solanaceae And is native to America. It grew in crops of Peru and Bolivia between the years of 5200 and 3400 a. C and was the explorer Heiser who introduced it in Europe, Asia and Africa in 1976.
The gender Capsicum Is a complex containing dozens of species that have produced more than 400 crops worldwide.
The term Mexican chile originally came from chilli or xilli: Nahuatl word (Aztec), being the name commonly used for fruit in Latin America and most English speaking countries. "Capsicum"is the common use when referring to sweet, or itchy peppers.
According to historians, Christopher Columbus named the peppers"peppers"after testing the black peppercorns (Piper Nigrum); Although these plants are not correlated.
There are approximately twenty-two types of wild pepper, and five cultivables of the genus Capsicum. The cultivables are: C. Annuum , C. Baccatum , C. Chinense , C. Frutescens Y C. Pubescens .
Indian farmers sow the seeds of this fruit in the months of February and March in the shade. After two months, they transfer the plants to the fields where the bamboo canes have been previously cut and burned. Later, in the months of August and September the fruit acquires its traditional size and color, being the perfect moment for the collection and sale.
Guinness World Records
In 2006, a woman earned herself credit for being part of the Book of the Guinness World Records , When he managed to eat 60 chilies of Bhoot Jolokia in 2 minutes And when rubbing against his eyes 12 peppers without crying!.
The azaña was made by Anandita Dutta Tamuly before the auditorium of the District Library Jorhat before hundreds of people for the British Channel"Channel 4".
According to the news, his love for this pepper was born when he was 5 years old and his tongue was sore. His mother applied a paste of the pepper to relieve the pain and cure the infection. From that moment he eats peppers"Bhoot Jolokia"with salt.
References
- Raktim Ranjan Bhagawati and Sapu Changkija. Genetic variability and Traditional Practices in Naga King Chili Landraces of Nagaland. Asian Agri-History Vol. 13, No. 3, 2009 (171-180).
- Bosland PW and Baral JB. 2007. HortScience 42 (2): 222-224. "Bhut Jolokia"- The world's hottest known chile pepper is a putative naturally occurring interspecific hybrid.
- K. Meghavansi-S. Siddiqui- Md. Haneef Khan - V.K. Gupta. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 132, Issue 1, 2010 (1-14).
- Ángela M. Chapa-Oliver and Laura Mejía-Lieutenant. Capsaicin: From Plants to a Cancer-Suppressing. Published: 27 July 2016.
- Clark, R.; Lee, S. Anticancer Properties of Capsaicin against Human Cancer. Anticancer Res. 2016, 36, 837-844.
- Johnson, W., Jr. Final report on the safety assessment of Capsicum annuum extract, Capsicum annuum fruit extract, Capsicum annuum resin, Capsicum annuum fruit powder, Capsicum frutescens fruit, Capsicum frutescens fruit extract, Capsicum frutescens resin, and capsaicin. J. Toxicol. 2007, 26, 3-106.
- Praveen Kumar Verma. The Botanical Enigma of India's Hottest Chilli 'Bhoot Jolokia' (Capsicum Chinense Jacq.) New York Science Journal 2013; 6 (11). (ISSN: 1554-0200). Sciencepub.net.
- Heather Arndt Anderson. "Chillies A Global History". Published by Reaktion Books Ltd. 2016.
- "Indian Chilli Queen: Anandita Dutta". 24timepass. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
- Aggawwal, B.B. Molecular targets of dietary agents for cancer prevention and therapy. Biochem. Pharm. 2006, 71, 1397-1421.
- Bley, K.B.; Boorman, G.; Mohammad, B.; McKenzie, D.; Babbar, S. A Comprehensive review of the carcinogenic and anticarcinogenic potential of capsaicin. Toxicol. Pathol. 2012, 40, 847-873.