The Arizona Daily Star
Friday Oct 15, 1999
They are pea-sized, crunchy balls of fire.
They have been used by the Incas, Mayas and Aztecs.
They grow wild in South America, the Caribbean and south of Tucson.
They are chile tepins, and a 4 square-mile reserve in the
Coronado National Forest
will be dedicated today at a private ceremony in
Rock Corral Canyon, near Tumacacori.
The ceremony marks the creation of the Wild Chile Botanical area.
Joshua Tewksbury, a graduate student at the University of Montana, has worked together with Native Seeds/SEARCH and the Coronado National Forest to study and protect the plants known as the "original Chile.''
For 10 years, Native Seeds/SEARCH, 526 N. Fourth Ave., in Tucson worked to establish the reserve, said Conservation Director Suzanne Nelson. The group was formed to preserve the native seeds and farming methods of the Southwest.
Nelson said the Coronado forest has the northernmost range for the plants, believed to be the first chile plant. Researchers believe it is a heartier, frostresistant strain of the mainly tropical chile.
Chiltepin plants are scattered around the forest and are usually found under desert hackberries.
Spokeswoman Gail Aschenbrenner of the Coronado National Forest said access to the chiltepins will not be restricted, but visitors should be respectful of them and not pick them.
All chiltepins used for consumption are harvested from the wild. Attempts at growing the plant commercially have been unsuccessful.
The chiles are harvested either by picking them directly off the plant or by cutting off seed-bearing branches and removing the chiles later.
Nelson said she is unsure how the Plant Came to Arizona, theorizing that the seeds were brought up by humans or introduced by birds.
The chiles have been used by Indian women to wean babies off breast milk.
Today's ceremony will include an Indian blessing, along with remarks by Native Seeds/SEARCH directors, including Nelson, the Coronado forest supervisor and ecologist, and by Tewksbury. Samples of dishes featuring the chile will be offered.
Jesus Lopez Jr. is a science writing intern with NASA's Space Grant program at the University of Arizona.
CHILE TEPINS ARE ...
The chiltepin plants grow about 3 to 4 feet high and can be used as ornamentals.
The seeds contain a compound called capsaicin. It is used as an insecticide and as a topical treatment for neuralgia. It is also used as a temporary treatment for osteoarthritis
Sources: Joshua Tewksbury of the University of Montana; Suzanne Nelson, conservation director of Native Seeds/SEARCH, and the 1998 Consumer Reports Complete Drug Reference.
the webmaster adds chile tepins are the 3rd hottest chile peppers in the world. just behind chile habaneros and chile y*.
in the phoenix and tucson areas in arizona you can go into the produce section of any american grocery store like safeway, frys, smiths, smittys, bashas and buy a small bag of dried chile tepins for about a dollar.
while chile habaneros are hotter you get more bang for the buck if you buy chile tepins. because chile tepins are much cheeper then chile habaneros.
the local indians call chile tepins "christmas peppers".
chile tepins may be an arizona thing. when i lived in los angeles i could never find them in either american, oriental, or indian grocery stores. although the stores in los angeles did have the hotter but much more expensive chile habaneros.
while im a fire eater and have never found any food that i consider too hot too eat be it thai made like they make it in thailand, or indian food like they make it in india chile tepins and chile habaneros are much too hot to eat raw. i love to eat tabasco peppers raw. although jalapeno are much milder then tabasco peppers i dont eat them because they give me hiccups as they slide down my throat.
my receipe for a fiery chip dip is
Mix the sour cream, soup mix, and ground chile tepin peppers.
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