Chilli pepper
Capsicum annuum.
An annual herbaceous plant 20-60 cm high. The native land is Mexico, where it is called peperoni. In the 16th century, it took root in Europe, and today it is cultivated all over the world.
Description: straight stem, petiolate leaves, ovoid-pro
long, pointed, entire. The color of the leaves is from green to dark green. The flowers are white, white-yellow or purple on long petioles, drooping. Blossoms from June to September. The fruits of the dining room and spicy paprika ( Peperoni capsicum frutescens) are hollow and have a wide variety of sizes, shapes and colors - green, yellow, red and orange.
Ingredients: the main component of pepper is alkaloid capsaicin, which gives it a burning taste;it also contains 10-15 % fatty oils, carotenoids, capsorubin, capsantine. Significantly in pepper is the content of vitamins C, A and B2, as well as sugars, fat, in seeds - fatty oil.
Cultivation: the most famous modern producers of pepper are Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Italy, Greece, Spain and pcs. California( USA).Pepper for growing requires protected warm and sunny areas, which is due to its southern origin. It is sufficiently exacting to the soil. It grows best on fertile humus - medium between light and heavy - soils. Soils should be well warmed up, have air and water permeability.
The site for pepper is prepared from autumn: carefully dig over and make an increased amount of compost, a complex of organic and mineral fertilizers. In spring the soil is loosened to a depth of 10-15 cm.
Due to the extreme instability of the plant, it is recommended to grow pepper exclusively from seedlings to a decrease in temperature. Seedlings are grown in greenhouses or in a room on the window and planted in open ground at the end of May after the last late frosts. Seedlings are planted in rows at a distance of 40 cm between plants in a row and 40 cm between rows. Seedling of most pepper varieties requires tie to the support. The space between the rows is recommended to mulch. Requires abundant watering. Very sensitive to frost. Today, a large number of pepper species are known, among them long-bred, with large fleshy fruits, various small-fruited, some 1 cm long, small round, for example the so-called cherry pepper, various kinds of hot peppers - from spicy to extremely hot.
Medicinal properties: has a strengthening effect, improves digestion, increases appetite. It irritates skin receptors and has a warming effect when rubbed, helps to relieve pain in radiculitis, joint pain.
Application: pepper has a weak spicy aroma and depending on the type of taste from spicy to spicy and even very burning. In pharmaceutics it is used for the manufacture of medicinal products - tinctures, patches, extracts. In cooking, pepper, added to dishes in fresh and dry ground form, gives a special flavor and taste to soups, mainly tomato and fish, goulash, almost all kinds of meat, fish, piquant sauces, beans, cabbage and rice. It is indispensable in the manufacture of many types of sausages and meat products. Pepper makes refined the taste of salads and snacks. Fresh pepper is used in the preparation of salads in a mixture with other vegetables. He is unusually delicious in omelettes. Pepper is served to meat, bread, various cheeses, canned with various vegetables and independently. Pepper can not be poured into boiling oil or fat, as it loses color, turns black and gives a rancid taste.