Letter From the Editor

Anatomy of Heat

The Chili Pepper Issue

There was that one Sunday when Bob came to visit. Everyone had a plate of oxtails over rice and peas. Bob watched as my mother, father and I added a droplet of Matouk’s West Indian Hot Sauce to our meals. When our guest reached for the glass bottle, my dad cautioned his friend to “try only a little.”

“Don’t worry,” Bob said. “I love spicy food.” He then proceeded to bang the bottle like it was Heinz ketchup. His plate was doused in Scotch bonnet sauce. It was inedible. But Bob being Bob, refused to admit his wrong. So, he ate it, red-faced and all. My mother, who had spent hours preparing the meal, continuously refilled his tall glass of water.

Bob returned many times for dinner, but he never touched our hot sauce ever again.

At one time or another, we’ve all been Bob.

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For our sixth issue, we look at how chili peppers deliver pain and pleasure. What we discovered was that heat is a lot more complex than mild, medium and hot.

Our cover story, the Anatomy of Heat, is rather scientific — and for good reason. Researchers like Ivette Guzman at New Mexico State University are starting to understand how peppers deliver more than just burning sensations.

There are three recipes to drool over in this issue. There’s a recipe for habanero simple syrup, which you will put on everything and in everything because it works just as beautifully in a cocktail as it does on grilled carrots. For the purpose of this issue, we put the syrup into our Scotch bonnet cookies. These buttery cookies are spiked with habanero syrup, habanero candies and Scotch bonnet powder.

We also welcome Jonathan Custodio, our new contributing reporter who talks to pepper-heads like Michael Burgess in Toronto who blesses each of his meals with hot sauce, including poutine. Look for this story to roll out in March.

We want to hear more from our readers. The next time you try one of these recipes, tag us on social media and let us know how it turned out.

Also, we want to hear about your experiences with Caribbean food. We will be accepting submissions for personal essays starting in the coming weeks.

With gratitude,
Rochelle Oliver