About Andrews's The Pepper Trail

“An authoritative but eminently readable work… An essential purchase.” —Library Journal

“Jean Andrews blazes a delicious pepper trail with a lot of research.” —Southern Living

“Jean has written the definitive book on the fascinating story of chiles and their history. Cooks, gardeners, food historians, and anyone interested in food and flavor will find this book an essential read.” —Mark Miller, Coyote Café, The Great Chile Book, and Coyote’s Southwest Pantry

”[ Peppers II ] has added a new dimension to our knowledge of peppers and coupled that awareness with a plethora of interesting recipes designed to treat the palate to the gastronomical delights of chili peppers.” —W. Hardy Eshbaugh, Professor, Miami University

“…covers the history of peppers as a food and showcases dishes—from soups and salads to desserts—incorporating the pepper from almost every ethnic cuisine.” —Modern Maturity

“Andrews has produced an entirely new look at [peppers] from a culinary viewpoint… [with] recipes from more than fifty contributors.” —Gourmet

Andrews, who has been called “the first lady of Chile peppers,” “the godmother of the chile world,” as well as her own registered trademark “The Pepper Lady,” follows the spice trade and early movements of capsicums along the spice roads, through much of Turkey and the Middle East, Africa and Monsoon Asia (India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia) plus the Szechuan and Hunan provinces in China and the Silk Route. This latest offering includes previously undiscovered facts, including the etymology of the word “cayenne.”

The first spice to be used by man, peppers are currently “hot” in Mexico, Guatemala, much of the Caribbean, most of Africa, parts of south America, India, Bhutan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, southwestern China, the Balkans, the United States—Louisiana, Texas, and the Southwest—plus Korea.

A chapter on what makes a pepper a pepper includes detailed descriptions and illustrations of twenty-seven separate varieties of the Capsicum, as well as miscellaneous cultivars and detailed directions on working with fresh and dried peppers, including how to choose and use them, and how to care for them.

The recipes include those of such nationally known chefs as Mark Miller, Reed Clemons, Miguel Ravago, Stephen Pyles, Jon Jividen, Paula Lambert (Mozzarella Company), Robert del Grande, Pat Teepatiganond, Cecilia Chiang, Elmar E. Prambs, Jerry di Vecchio, Paul Prudhomme, Dean Fearing, Amal Naj, Justin Wilson, and John Ash, among many others.