Cayenne - Capsicum minimum
Edited 2009
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. It is particularly a great blood circulation
stimulant. This ability to stimulate the circulation means
that cayenne can be very helpful in treating conditions such
as piles and varicose veins. Indeed - a great help for the
whole blood circulation.
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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