[CH] Vitamin C in capsicums
Jonathan T. Smillie (jsmillie@protix.com)
Tue, 24 Feb 1998 17:30:22 -0600
A question for the more nutritionally-minded in our little group:
I have read, and heard it stated (here among other places), that chiles
are a good source of Vitamin C. Does anyone have hard and fast stats
on the amount of that vitamin present in different varieties of chile? i.e.
how many habaneros would you have to eat to get your US RDA?
Also, is there a significant difference between the vitamin C level of chiles
and of non-capsaiciniferous capsicums, eg bell peppers? A cookbook
of my significant other's claims that bell peppers contain much more C
than chiles, but then it was not written by the enlightened.
Speaking of enlightenment- I was recently given a cookbook as a birthday
present, Jane Butel's "Hotter than Hell." Hell is apparently a fairly temperate
zone in her estimation, based both on the recipes and on these rather disappointing
words in the introduction (immediately after the mandatory "chile-safety" talk):
"...there are some chiles that are just [simply? don't remember exact phrasing]
too hot to eat."
Shouldn't there be some sort of law against labeling a book "Hotter than Hell" and
making blanket statements like this? With due respect to those in the general
population and on this list who don't care for the more incendiary chiles, I
really think it's inappropriate to raise expectations of truly fiery cuisine and then
let your readers down this way. It also discourages people from experimenting-
there are those who will eventually want to go beyond the allegedly impassable
goal of the "fiery hot" jalapeno, and a little guidance rather than the fatuity of a
blanket "Oh no, that's too hot!" would be helpful - so that they DON'T jump right
into using a hab when a serrano would be the logical next step.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Jonathan
***************
<bold>Conservative</bold>, <italic>n.</italic> A statesman who is
enamored of existing
evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to
replace them with others.
- Ambrose Bierce, <italic>The Devil's Dictionary</italic>