Since New Mexico leads the nation in chile production, we proudly stick with the non-Websterian spelling of the fruit. Chiles are another food of the Americas, sharing the typical solanum family star-shaped flower with the tomato and the potato. Many thousands of years ago, the plant which ultimately produced all members of the pepper family, both hot and sweet, originated in what is today Bolivia. From there it rapidly made its way to Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. The chile pepper was honored by the American natives in pottery and tapestries. It even functioned as a form of currency.

Peppers were carried by the Spanish and the Portuguese to their territories in Asia and Africa by the early 1500’s. The Turks probably introduced the chile pepper to Hungary in the mid-15th century, a country which found a profound affinity for the fruit.

Centuries later Hungarian scientist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi extracted Vitamin C in quantity for the first time from the chile pepper. In 1937 he won the Nobel Prize for his efforts.