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Cooking with Peppers

PEPPERCORNS

When reading recipes in Ghanaian or other African cookbooks, never assume that “add pepper” means adding “black pepper” in the Western sense. Ghanaian cooking is noted for its liberal use of a variety of chili peppers in cooking, both fresh and dried. However, long before Portuguese explorers arrived in Ghana in 1471, likely bringing chili peppers with them, Ghanaians were using other types of pepper in their cooking. They still use them today. Those listed below are similar in shape and color to the familiar black peppercorns (Piper nigrum) commonly used in Western cooking. However, they all have distinctive flavors and are worth adding to one’s repertoire. If unavailable, Piper nigrum can generally be used as a substitute.

Grains of Paradise (Aframomum melegueta): Called fom wisa in Twi, but also known as melegueta pepper, Guinea grains, or Guinea pepper, the name refers to the seeds of an indigenous spice from West Africa related to the cardamom family. (Melegueta pepper should not be confused with the Brazilian malagueta pepper, a Capsicum frutescens chili pepper.) In the 1700s, while Ghana was noted for its gold (Gold Coast) and Côte d’Ivoire or Ivory Coast for its ivory, much of present-day Liberia was known as the “Pepper Coast” or “Grain Coast” after this spice. Fom wisa seeds were highly sought by medieval spice traders as a substitute for black pepper in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Ghanaians continue to value the seeds as a flavoring for food. Aframomum melegueta is used interchangeably with the closely related “alligator pepper,” which technically belongs to the family Aframomum danielli, A. citratum, or A. exscapum.

Ashanti pepper (Piper guineense): Another peppercorn from West Africa, it is known as masoro in Hausa, or soro wisa in Twi. Other names are West African pepper, Benin pepper, false cubeb, Guinea cubeb, or uziza pepper.

Hwentia (Xylopia aethiopica): Hwentia is the Twi name for the seeds and seedpod of an African tree/shrub. Hwentia is also known as Grains of Selim, kimba pepper, African pepper, Moor pepper, Negro pepper, Kani pepper, Kili pepper, Sénégal pepper, or Ethiopian pepper. When cooking with hwentia (see the recipe for Kelewele, page 52), both the seeds and the seedpod are crushed.

CHILI PEPPERS

Chilies vary in size, shape, length, aroma, and color, but it is primarily the variation in their heat from capsaicin oil that distinguishes them. They range in color from red and green to yellow and orange, and are used both fresh and dried. Though originally from the Americas, they have spread throughout the world.

There are five basic species of Capsicum peppers, though hundreds of varieties: C. annuum, C. baccautum, C. Chinense, C. frutescens, C. pubescens. The most common chili peppers in Ghana come from the C. Chinense family. Ghanaians (especially outside of Ghana) love Scotch bonnet or habanero peppers. My personal favorite from Ghana is the green kpakpo shito with its distinctive fruity aroma. I cherish the hope that this pepper will one day find its way across the ocean.

Handling chili peppers:

A habanero or Scotch bonnet pepper can be from 40 to 140 times hotter than a jalapeno. That explains why cooks are advised to wear rubber gloves and use extreme caution when working with chili peppers, especially the hotter varieties. Some people advocate using goggles to protect the eyes. Neither gloves nor goggles are used in Ghana, except perhaps in professional kitchens. When using fresh peppers such as habanero, never touch a pepper directly. I hold the washed pepper with a fork and use a sharp knife to deseed it or remove membranes. Incidentally, capsaicin oil is not water soluble, which is why drinking a lot of water or rinsing a hand with water will not help ease the burn. It is fat soluble, so drinking milk or rubbing oil or even milk on a hand will help alleviate the heat.

Using chili peppers in my recipes:

It is a challenge to indicate exactly how much chili pepper to use in the recipes in this book. It depends on the type of pepper and personal preference. Often I add a slice or two of a chili pepper to a stew or soup and taste the stew as it cooks, removing the slice if the stew seems to be getting too hot. Sometimes I simply slice off the end and cook the pepper whole in a soup. Once cooked, the pepper can be gently squeezed with a spoon (in the soup to avoid squirting one’s eyes) and the heat can be gradually released into the soup; or it can be sliced and served alongside the soup or stew, allowing diners who wish more heat to help themselves. I often combine both fresh and dried chili peppers. Sometimes part of a chili pepper can be blended with tomatoes or other spices like garlic or ginger before adding to the soup or stew. Much of the heat in the chili peppers is contained in the seeds and inner membranes, so one way to reduce the heat is to deseed and cut out the membranes.

When using chilies, it is best to be cautious and conservative. For those new to chili peppers, it is wise to begin with dried ground red pepper, gradually increasing the amount until the desired spiciness is obtained—remember, more can be added but the reverse is not true. Be aware that dried hot ground red pepper directly imported from Ghana is hotter than that commonly sold in North American grocery stores.

CHILI PEPPER HEAT

The heat in capsicums is commonly rated using the SHU (Scoville Heat Units). While helpful, its accuracy is limited, as the same variety of pepper can have widely varied intensity or pungency, depending on soil, climate, or even location on the same bush. Below are listed some common SHU of peppers and sauces, in ascending order of heat:

Habanero (C. chinense Jacquin)	100,000 to 350,000 SHU
Scotch bonnet (C. chinense)	100,000 to 325,000 SHU
Kpakpo shito (C. chinense)	70,000 to 100,000 SHU
Cayenne (C. annuum)	30,000 to 50,000 SHU
Jalapeno (C. annuum)	2,500 to 5,000 SHU
Tabasco Original Pepper Sauce	2,500 to 5,000 SHU
Paprika (C. annuum)	0 to 300 SHU
Bell peppers (C. annuum)	0