Cayenne - Capsicum minimum
2005. Awaiting revision
2007
Also known as chilli pepper,
hot pepper and Tabasco pepper.
Most households throughout the West will include some form of
Cayenne in the kitchen but most people probably do not
realise what a powerfully healing herb it really is.
Cayenne peppers grow naturally in America and Africa,
but are now cultivated world wide.
The fruit is used both in cooking and medicine, and it owes its hot
flavour to a chemical called capsaicin, which comprises about 12%
of the pepper.
Capsaicin was isolated by chemists more than a century ago as the
main active constituent of Cayenne. It may be familiar to you - you may have seen
it listed in the ingredients of some pharmaceutical ointments used
to relieve arthritis and muscle pain.
Dishes that include hot peppers are most common in very hot
climates like southern America and Thailand. This might seem odd
but it has been recently found that hot spices like Cayenne kill certain food-borne bacterium that are
more likely to be present in the food of hot climates.
History
American Indians
cultivated the chilli pepper for centuries, for medicinal uses as
well as culinary.
The plant is first mentioned in western literature by a physician
named Diego Alvarez Chanca who encountered it when
he travelled with Columbus on his second voyage to
the West Indies in 1494.
Today Cayenne is listed in many world pharmacopoeias
(official drug lists), and the American Physicians Desk Reference
includes several prescription drugs that contain the
herb.
Uses of Cayenne
Dr Richard Schulze, a medical herbalist who
studied with Dr John Christopher, says of
Cayenne: "If you master
only one herb in your life, master cayenne pepper. It is more
powerful than any other. There is no other herb that increases
your blood flow faster than cayenne. There are none that work
faster; none that work better".
Dr Christopher himself has plenty to say about
Cayenne, giving it the
credit for his own amazing change in health. For most of his life,
up to the age of 35, he suffered badly from - amongst other
complaints - severe hardening of the arteries. In fact he had been
told by medical doctors that he could not live beyond his 40th
birthday. At 45, 10 years after he started to take Cayenne on a
daily basis, a medical examiner him told him he had the venous
structure of a teenage boy! He passed the medical examination with
a completely clean bill of health.
Many practitioners believe that Cayenne should be
added to all herbal preparations, or taken as a supplement with
other herbs, as the Cayenne ensures a clear
passageway through the circulatory system, letting the other
herbs reach their destination more quickly.
[Next: Cayenne, Blood and Circulation...]
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