I do not like spicy food so I was skeptical about going to this event. However I was pleasantly surprised.  I enjoyed tasting ethnic foods that had unique flavors and spice combinations that made for a balanced dish. I also enjoyed learning about pepper breeding to produce generations of peppers that were sweet, small and had stripped patterns on them. I also really liked that there were little kids there trying out different foods and flavor combinations. I enjoyed sampling new dishes as a food scientist because I find that inspiration comes from different ideas, cultures, and ingredients that can be incorporated in new ways.

What drew me to this event was that it was an opportunity to go to the plantations. I knew little about peppers and to be honest it was not really that interesting to me considering I do not like spicy food. The walk to the plantations was fun, and I met some really nice people from the house. When I got there, I was taken aback because of all the good food that they had to offer. While I was skeptical at first, I realized that the spiciness varied; they had products and samples for every taste bud.

They had a trail of the different steps involved in the globalization of peppers throughout the world. The countries that first come to mind when thinking about peppers are Mexico and Japan. However, I was very shocked to find out that peppers only existed in South America until Europeans brought the peppers back to Europe, where they spread throughout Europe and into Africa and Asia. Mexico did not naturally have peppers, it was not until after the Spanish brought peppers to Mexico that it became a staple in their diet. We even saw some tiny pepper plants, and it was interesting to know that birds act as nature’s seed spreader, because they do not have the ability to sense spiciness.

I liked a specific dip so much that I had to buy it. We even made little pepper shaped pinatas with gummy peppers inside. Although it rained, it was really a fun experience that gave me a new appreciation for peppers. I do like peppers after all.

It gets jalapeno business!

My original plan to start this post was to emphasize just how much I don’t like peppers. Unfortunately, I waited way too long to write this, and that seems to be (rather ironically) the start of most of these blog posts. So Instead, I went with that joke.

At first, I was skeptical of the event. When we first arrived, we stood under a tent to avoid the pouring rain, while a few of us commiserated about how we detest peppers. But then we went inside and we had a chance to sample some peppery chocolate, which was pretty good. Soon, the rain cleared up, and we could go explore the rest of the event unimpeded.

Most of my time was spent in the education tent. Although I’m not a fan of the taste of peppers, I love botany and chemistry. The volunteers were very excited to share their knowledge of peppers with passerby, and thrilled when someone delved deeper into a topic.

There was even a pepper “world tour”, which allowed you to sample different peppers from around the world, and see how they spread. I’ve included a low-resolution picture of the map for anyone who’s interested. Surprisingly, peppers made it to the southwest US last, even with such a close proximity to their origin in South America. An older man next to me even told a volunteer quite frankly that he doesn’t believe it, and marched off defiantly.  We could all learn a lot from that man.

Even though I’m not a fan of peppers, I sampled the southwestern salsa, and even tried the habanero ice cream. They managed to make the ice cream both spicy and cool by using a cream cheese base. It wasn’t bad, the taste got old pretty quickly. All in all, it ended up being a good time. It was a nice excuse to get out of my room and see the plantations.

So next time you see a pepper party pop up, don’t hesitate to stop on by, even if you don’t like peppers. But I would recommend asking for a small scoop if you try the habanero ice cream.

Going to the Pepper Party this past Saturday was a really fun experience for me because not only did I finally go to the Plantations but I also learned some interesting facts about peppers that I didn’t previously know. The first stop in the journey to Pepper Land involved some rain and some really nice scenery along the way. Once we arrived at the Plantations, we went inside the Nevin Welcome Center and that’s where I tried this chocolate mixed with pepper and also some nachos with some pepper-mustard dip. I kind of felt that the pepper took away some of the chocolate flavor, but the pepper-mustard dip was really good.I went to a couple of booths but my favorite one was this one where you had to match the peppers on display with the names on a sheet. The peppers each had a letter assigned to them and when you matched all the peppers correctly with the names on the sheet, the letters spelled “YOU ARE RIGHT”, which I thought was interesting. I also went to the “Southwest USA ” and “Hungary” food stands and they had really great food. Overall, I think that the trip was fun and a really great experience.

I CAN’T STAND SPICY FOOD.

That’s why I was surprised that I really liked the southwest chili at the pepper party at the plantations. The vegan dish had the perfect balance of hearty beans and tomato base, with just the right amount of spice to warm you up after the cool afternoon rainfall, and perfectly paired with tortilla chips. I also tried a chinese stir fry which was delicious, and vegan as well, but did leave my mouth burning. There were even samples of vegan chocolate chili macaroons, which melted into sweet, chocolatey, warm bliss. I was most surprised however to find an ice cream stand where I could purchase vegan soy cherry ice cream which was the perfect treat to cut the heat of the peppers.

I also got to learn more about the science of spicy. Capsaicin is a molecule contained in peppers that causes the sensation of pain and temperature associated with spicy foods. I learned about pepper seed dispersal, plants that were in the same family, and why water won’t help when your mouth is on fire. In case you were wondering, water spreads the pain-causing spicy molecules around your mouth while the fats in milk can bind to the capsaicin, preventing the molecules from interacting with your pain receptors. There was a booth where i was able to smell pureed peppers and identify what the pepper would taste like. I was surprised to learn that most people preferred red peppers to green peppers, probably due to the higher sugar content.

Overall, I was really glad I went, even though I probably wouldn’t have gone on my own.

For my very first expedition with Rose this weekend, I decided to venture into what I thought was my specialty. Handling the spicy world, enduring the heat, that are, peppers.

Now, I must preface this post with the fact that I had a very stuffy nose, as most of my scholarly colleagues at the time also did.

So we arrive, and gain access to 6 different pepper stations of our choosing– I map out my flight path: Mexico, China, Spain, Hungary, Thailand and good ole’ USA.

I grab Mexico and scarf it down, “This is easy enough,” I thought to myself as I stepped up to the China pepper station and dowsed my plate with Sriracha.

By the time i got to Thailand, my nose was running–no–sprinting down my shirt.  Luckily the rain provided me with some cover, dampening the entirety of my shirt. Regardless, the food was delish.

Long story short, the pepper party managed to clear my nose out completely, and in a spicy-sweet sense of irony; sweet, sweet relief ensued.

Oh, and I almost forgot– I got this very fashionable souvenir as an earpiece:

All in all, a quirky fun time. Nodding wistfully to the Pepper Party, after my reception back into the Rose Founders’ closet (my affectionate name for my room), I cooked up some ghost pepper ramen and called it a day. A wonderful day indeed.

Prior to attending Saturday’s Pepper Party at the Plantations (the alliteration was intentional), I have to admit, my pepper vocabulary was limited to say the least. Spicy peppers, sweet peppers, and maybe the occasional jalapeno peppers on my pizza. But I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I learned everything about peppers within the hour I spent walking around the field. I can tell you, though, I got to try some great food, meet some great people, and find out some great things I didn’t know before.

Early on, I went to a booth where they spoke solely to the chemistry of the pepper. (I have to tell you, chemistry is my absolute favorite subject, so the fact that there were people here talking just about chemistry made me happier than you can imagine.) Capsaicin, pictured below, is the predominantly active molecule in peppers; the more capsaicin, the spicier the pepper. It turns out that it’s actually kind of hard to measure the amount of capsaicin in a pepper, so how they ranked peppers before the technology was developed was essentially a taste test. They’d soak peppers in water and ask people to drink the water until they tasted the heat. Nice.

*Also, if you look really closely at the picture of capsaicin, you can see another model behind it. They were also giving out marshmallows and coffee stirrers so that we could make our own capsaicin models. As tempted as I was to accept the offer, I figured I should probably put my O-Chem model kit to use.

I also played a game. If I could correctly name 11 different peppers, I’d get a special surprise. Naturally, I was all for this. Among my favorite peppers were Mini Chocolate Bell peppers, Monkey Face peppers, and Medusa peppers (which are apparently named for the plant, not the shape of the pepper). Unfortunately I had already taken a bite of my prize by the time I decided to take a picture, but the thought is what counts.

From chocolate pepper truffles to pepper mustard to pepper gummies to fresh peppers, this pepper party was definitely hot. I had a lot of fun and I’d strongly recommend a trip to the plantations to anyone who’s thinking about it.

~Nalli Muthiah

It wasn’t a hot day. It wasn’t even a warm day. In fact, it was 60 degrees and cloudy. Not that the cool front was unwelcome, after a week of mid 80s weather. But, being used to the sluggish, blanketing heat of the south, I was slightly out of my element. Which is exactly why I was so interested in seeing the Pepper Party. Boy, did they bring the heat– literally. There was a large educational tent on peppers, but I’ll be honest: the main reason I went to this event was to get me some of those spicy snacks.

My parents are hardcore gardeners, and by hardcore I mean my mom has several different types of peppers alone in addition to numerous other vegetables. Unfortunately, it appears I have not inherited the gardening gene, but there was a certain comforting familiarity of being around so many plants. Even with some prior knowledge though, I was excited to learn some things I hadn’t known before.

Pic 1: The life cycle of a bell pepper.

Pic 2: A flower from a pepper plant.

The enthusiasm of the volunteers was awesome. They were all so excited to share their knowledge of peppers, and it was great to see even some who had devoted their careers to the study of the plant. I met a woman who worked on breeding a sweet pepper and a hot, striped pepper in order to obtain a sweet, striped pepper (pic 3). She offered me a slice of a pepper she and her team had bred. I jokingly (but also a little not kidding) asked her if the raw pepper was sweet.

“It should be,” she replied, albeit a bit nervously.

I bit into the pepper. A sweet flavor exploded from the slice–it was the sweetest pepper I had ever tasted. See, I eat spicy, but I’m not usually a huge fan of raw peppers. There’s a certain bitterness in the aftertaste of a raw bell peppers that I usually don’t enjoy. This pepper, however, had no such problem. If all the peppers here were this tasty, I said to myself, I couldn’t wait to try out the other foods.

Pics 4&5: Pepper plants inside the educational tent.

Pic 6: Black seeds in a pepper

Upon exiting the tent, I traveled around the world. Well, the countries that showed up, anyways. First stop: Mexico. I scooped up the chicken mole with some deep fried corn tortilla chips on the side. I’ll admit, I was a little disappointed. It was a sweet, rich sauce, but it wasn’t spicy at all. Maybe that’s how the dish is supposed to be made, I wouldn’t know. Nevertheless, it was delicious, and I moved onto Morocco in search of spice. This one proved mild as well, but with more of a kick than the mole. The dish was a beef meatball with cilantro and sour cream or yogurt, and it was also delicious.

Pic 7: Moroccan meatball

Partly full but still in search of spice, I walked over to Thailand. Ah, this was familiar to me. The volunteer handed me a spring roll and asked, “sweet or spicy?”

“Both,” I told her, gleefully clasping my hand in anticipation. She drizzled Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce and Sriracha onto my spring roll, and I could barely contain my excitement before she handed the bowl to me. Sweet chili sauce is probably one of my all time favorite sauces. I eat it in the dining hall all the time, and I have it all the time at home. In fact, this dish was so good that I sprinted back for seconds before the Rose house group picture. I’m pretty sure I’m still holding some kind of food in my hand in the picture, but thus is the life of a continual eater. At the end of the Pepper Party, my mouth had acquired the comfortable warmth I’ve come to associate with well-cooked peppers–just the right amount of heat. Not the horrifying burning sensation when I eat something way too spicy and scramble for milk, nor the disappointment left behind by mild spices. I’ll definitely come back when they have the Pepper Party again, and next time I might even buy a jar of the jalepeño mustard they were selling. Maybe someday I’ll even try the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, the hottest pepper in the world–but I’ll be sure to have lots of dairy products near me. And maybe an ambulance.

Pic 8: SPICIEST PEPPER IN THE WORLD OMG

Pics 9&10: More pics from the botanical garden because I like taking pics and pretending I’m a photographer instead of a kid with an iphone

Is what we chanted on our way down the slope after visiting the Botanical Gardens.

A pretty great way to end the trip, considering my many doubts in the beginning. I was not the only one wary of spicy foods in the group. Nor was I the only one with a cold, and probably didn’t fully appreciate the variety of scents I could have experienced that day. I probably was also not alone in thinking, “Ugh, why didn’t I go to the Wednesday event, I should be in bed.” But I think we were all glad we went to this event, which was educational, full of delicious food, and provided me a boost of energy for the rest of the day.

Things I learned:

1) The Plantations are sooooo far away, but I do not visit them enough.

2) Pepper ice cream exists, and is delicious. Same goes for pepper chocolate macaroons.

3) Sampling varieties of food from “around the world” is great alternate lunch choice. (Seriously, check out some of the things I had. The Chinese stir fry was surprisingly spicy.)

4) The capsaicin from peppers binds to the PAIN RECEPTORS in your mouth, not the taste receptors, as I previously thought. That’s why when you get some on your hand, it stings as well.

5) Also, learned that birds have a mutation in their genes where the spicyness doesn’t affect them, so they are nature’s way of spreading the seeds of peppers… through their poop. Not the most graceful image, but what WAS lovely was seeing the Youtube video of a parrot eating a very spicy-looking pepper with great enthusiasm. I could watch that all day.

Overall: I’m very excited for more of these little excursions, to meet more of the awesome people living quite close by, and to try more things that may be out of my comfort zone.

I’ll give you a hint the answer is a lot.

Yesterday at the pepper party I tried a lot of new things (something that for me is a little strange considering how much of a picky eater I am), all made with peppers and all surprisingly really delicious.  I tried some pepper ice cream which no wasn’t spicy at all; it was surprisingly sweet and delicious.  I tried some amazing mustard made with Datil peppers (I think I spelled that right) that was so delicious that I wished I could’ve just taken the entire jar.  It was like one of those perfect almost spicy mustards but still sweet like a honey mustard and made my mouth water when combined with pretzel sticks.  I tried some very spicy Chinese inspired stir-fry that made me wish I had some milk on hand.  I had some delicious Southwestern inspired chili which I went back for three times (oops).  I had chile pepper dark chocolate which surprisingly went very very well together.  This along with countless other food options was one of my favorite parts of the pepper party.

But it wasn’t the only thing I loved. What I enjoyed the most was all the knowledge about peppers that I didn’t even realized existed.  The most valuable thing I learned at the pepper party revolved around one chemical compound: capsaicin.  Depending on the length of the capsaicin chain and its make up, the spiciness of the pepper can change.  Capsaicin binds to the pain receptors of the mouth, making them believe that not only are you experiencing pain but also heat.  The chemical actually does absolutely nothing to harm your mouth and instead makes you believe you’re in pain even when nothing is hurting you.  The easiest remedy to dull out the spiciness of peppers is to actually drink milk because of a compound in milk called casein.  Casein bonds to the capsaicin chains to prevent the capsaicin from bonding with the pain receptors in the mouth, thus making the pain of spicy food die down a whole lot faster.  Next time you eat some spicy peppers be sure to reach for a glass of milk; water only spreads the capsaicin out making the pain actually worse.

So I hope anyone that reads this gains some useful knowledge for eating some spicy foods made with peppers.  And maybe another lesson which I learned at this party: don’t knock something until you try it, because you may just discover that you like it.

I. Hate. Peppers.

Or at least I did prior to the Pepper Party this Saturday.

You see, I’m not new to peppers. In fact, I would say that peppers and I are intimately acquainted. For five consecutive summers, peppers and I got to know each other in the sun soaked fields of a Pennsylvania farm. I’ve planted, picked, and peddled more peppers than I care to remember. Peter Piper has nothing on me.

Through all this time I’ve spent with peppers, I’ve never been particularly fond of them. They were always too hot for me. After a long day of pepper picking, its pretty likely that I have peppers in my eyes, nose and mouth. None of these are pleasant places to have peppers on a hot day.

As I approached the Pepper Party, I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic. I was thinking back to those long days of hot sun and hotter tongue. The dismal rain didn’t help either. But after walking through the botanical garden, I was pleasantly surprised.

We were greeted by the smell of peppers being roasted over open fires. Through the rain, we could see displays of dishes featuring peppers from around the world. Inside, we encountered samples of many different pepper filled delights.

If none of those things swayed my feelings for peppers, then the enthusiasm of the volunteers surely would have. These people knew more about peppers than I thought there was to know. I learned about capsaicin, the compound that makes peppers hot. Even more useful, I learned about the ways to cool down after tasting a particularly hot pepper. I now know always to keep dairy products on hand.

Overall, I loved the atmosphere of the Pepper Party. There were so many things to learn about and try. It was a great opportunity to see a part of Cornell that I hadn’t seen before. I was starting to think that peppers might not be so bad. That’s when I saw it.

Pepper. Flavored. Ice cream.

Where has this delicious treat been all my life? Why was anyone using peppers for anything else? How had I lived without this? Why wasn’t this mass produced for every grocery store in the world? Was I tasting the food of the gods?

My mind was slightly over come with the deliciousness I was experiencing. Suddenly, I forgave peppers for those long days spent in the sun. I forgave them for all the times my eyes burned and my tongue hurt. I even forgave them for how heavy a bushel of them was to carry. Pepper flavored ice cream made all of these things worth it.

I’m glad I went to the Pepper Party. It was time for peppers and I to bury the hatchet. Though I hope to never pick a pepper again, I might not mind tasting a few.

The Pepper Party at the Cornell Plantations was an informative and family-friendly event.  I was uncertain whether I should go to this event but I am glad that I did (mostly because of the food).  There were many information booths and I learned some interesting facts about peppers.  I even attempted to make a piñata with papier mâché and gummy candy shaped like peppers.  My three failed attempts and the artistic abilities of the bubbly four year olds really put me to shame.

There was an information booth at which a lady talked about the chemical structure of capsaicin (what makes chili peppers hot) and the hotness scale.  I immediately had a horrendous flashback of orgo, which I still need to study for.

I was glad to try some dishes made with peppers.  The chicken mole was cooked in a way that every bite brought a rich flavor and sweetness.  Though I would have preferred it to be served spicy and with some spanish rice.  The shredded chicken was a bit cold, which was perfect for the torrid heat of the afternoon.  After finishing the bean chili, my stomach was full.  I was a little disappointed that I did not see sriracha at any of the tasting booths.  However, this event in general was a satisfying experience.  The botanical garden was beautiful and I would definitely return with some friends over fall break.

the pepper party was my first rose scholar event, which was a little spooky at first. our group arrived right as it started to rain and a lady bug took refuge in my hair (and later my shirt pocket) until the deluge passed. the first station i went to was inside the horticulture building. (actually, i’m pretty sure it’s called the horticulture building, but don’t quote me on that if i turn out to be wrong.) with help from volunteers i crafted myself a rather fashionable decorative pepper necklace. the tag on the necklace reads: “hug me… i’m a little chile” and instructs the owner to: “1. hang chile this winter. 2. hug family and friends underneath. 3. repeat.” great advice for ithaca residents if you ask me. i also tried chocolate pepper macaroons; they were really good. exploring upstairs i found some bongos and it took all my self-control to stop myself from playing with them.

back outside, different tents had traditional pepper dishes from several countries. i was a big fan of the hungarian pepper goulash and thai egg rolls with spicy pepper sauce–which turned out to be sriracha. i’m coming down with a bit of a cold right now, so i couldn’t really smell very much at first, but as i sampled the spicier dishes my nose started running like a faucet. that prompted an impromptu tissue-hunt back inside, where i found a display case with various peppers and their spiciness rating next to it. i thought ghost peppers were the hottest you could find, but i learned there exists a pepper called the trinidad moruga scorpion that’s almost twice as hot. incidentally, trinidad moruga scorpian is a really intimidating name for a food. there were several educational stations outside as well, but i was having too much fun tasting all the dishes to make it over to them.

we finished things up with some habenero ice cream and a group picture. overall, i’d rate the pepper party ten out of ten, and i would happily recommend it to a top ten friend.