How do you describe the searing heat of a jalapeno or any of the hundreds of other fiery capsicums known as chiles (or chillis or chilies, depending on where in the world you are)?
In “Great Pod Almighty” (Gourmet, November 2007, pp. 45-46), intrepid road foodies Jane and Michael Stern sit down with Paul Bosland, “professor of horticulture at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces and the country’s foremost chile breeder,” for a plate of chiles rellenos and some advice on how best to describe the taste of hot peppers.
In an effort to avoid the creeping wine-speak lately used to describe everything from olive oil to honey and chocolate, Bosland (whose license plate reads "Chileman") offers five heat-specific questions to ask when biting into a pungent pepper: 1) How fast does the heat hit the palate? “The speed depends on the balance of capsaicinoids, of which there are at least 15.” 2) “Where does the heat develop?” Tip of the tongue, mid-palate, back of the throat? 3) “Is the heat broad or sharp?” Some Asian chiles “have a pinprick feel,” while New Mexican chiles “paint the tongue like a wide brush.” 4) How fast does the heat fade? In a few seconds, or a few hours? 5) How hot is it? (This you actually have get from a Scoville chart.)
Bosland also attempts to disentangle the spelling dilemma. “In a bowl, it’s with an i. The plant or fruit is e.” (Yes, it’s a fruit, not a vegetable.)
On the other hand, Jean Andrews, author of Peppers: The Domesticated Capsicums and The Pepper Lady’s Pocket Pepper Primer, demurs. She notes that “the spelling chilli was first used in print by Dr. Francisco Hernandez (1514-1578), the first European to collect plants systematically in the New World.” Later, the “spelling was…changed to chile by Spanish-speaking Mexicans.” Andrew comes down on the side of the original chilli which, she says, was Hernandez’s interpretation of the indigenous Nahuatl word for capsicums. Chili is her second choice of spellings to describe the fruit.
Indian cookbook writers tend to agree. Madhur Jaffrey uses chilli, while Julie Sahni, Maya Kaimal and Laxmi Hiremath all use chili.
The debate continues.