Traveling Chili

Potatoes are a relatively recent introduction to the Thai table. Although potatoes originated in South America, the Spanish and Portuguese apparently did not bring them to Asia, as they did with many other new world foods such as chillies. I found a rather humorous account of how they came to Thailand in the Norwegian naturalist Carl Bock’s journal of his 1881 expedition to Northern Siam and Laos. In the book, Bock recounts a dinner with one of the principal “Chows” [princes] of Chiang Mai:

“As he had deferred to European customs in the form his invitation to dinner had taken, so the Chow now did his best to conform to civilized habits by using a knife and fork to eat with. But he was manifestly uncomfortable, and the effort at last became so irksome that he cast aside these unaccustomed implements, and fell back on his fingers and thumbs. The dishes were mostly Chinese, and call for no special comment. One item in the bill of fare, however, reminded me of home, viz. Potatoes – which had been introduced along with other vegetables into this country by the American missionaries, and which the Chow ate with great relish, helping himself to them sans cérémonie, in the good old-fashioned country-peasant style, and blowing his fingers to keep them cool.”

Potatoes aren’t quite as popular with the average Thai as they appear to have been with the late prince, although they are readily available in American fast food chains as well as chips (crisps to the British) in convenience stores. However, in traditional Thai cuisine, the potato rarely makes an appearance.

Mon 27 Nov 2006

Carrots were a rather rare sight when I first came to Thailand many years ago. There were usually just a few slices thrown into mixed vegetable stir-fries for color. Over the years, it seems that they have become more common, and that’s probably due to them becoming more readily available. The increasing availability is no doubt due to the efforts of His Majesty the King of Thailand, through his Royal Projects foundation. This point was driven home when we encountered a group of Meo villagers washing huge mounds of freshly harvested carrots on the side of a mountain road one day.

The villagers had temporarily damned a small stream running off the mountain to form several small pools on the side of the road. They were using the pools – literally sitting in them as you can see – to wash the carrots before taking them to market. The carrots would probably be on sale in the Muang Mai wholesale market in Chiang Mai before nightfall.

Carrots are one of many products introduced by the Royal Projects to help eliminate the need for the Meo to rely on their traditional cash crop: opium. During a tour of the north in the late 1950s the then young king was dismayed to see opium fields covering the hillsides of the north. He resolved to find a better way for his subject to make a living, and thus the Royal Projects was born. The foundation works to find crops suitable for growing in the hills that will create a sustainable income for the hill tribes. In addition to carrots, the foundation has funded research and development to find or develop crop strains for coffee, macadamia nuts and many other cash crops.

Carrots apparently originated in middle Asia, around what is now known as Afghanistan. Originally, carrots came in a rainbow of colors, including white, yellow, purple, red, green and black. It seems they came in just about every color except the orange we know today. The orange shade only came about in the 16th century, when it was developed by patriotic Dutch growers to pay tribute to the House of Orange.

Although the motive may have been patriotism, the result was highly nutritious. The orange color is the result of high levels of carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A. No other fruit or vegetable contains as much carotene. Carrots also contain a special pectin fiber that is thought to help reduce cholesterol. One other curious thing about carrots is that, unlike most other vegetables, carrots are more nutritious when eaten cooked rather than raw.

Mon 20 Nov 2006

It’s interesting to think what the world would be like without pepper. It would certainly be a much duller place, and not just for our taste buds. In 408 A.D. Attila the Hun demanded a huge quantity of pepper as ransom during the siege of Rome. Then consider for a moment that one of the major reasons for Europe’s expansion and eventual colonization of south-east Asia was the pursuit of that small hard black seed.

In the 16th century, pepper was a currency preferred more than gold. According to the Encyclopedia of Spices, pepper was so valuable that dock workers were prohibited from wearing clothing with pockets or cuffs for fear they would make off with a few peppercorns. The Venetians controlled the supply, which was transported overland. Fed up with high prices, the Portuguese set out to find a sea route, which took them to India and later to the Malay peninsula, where the various city-states at the time were vassals of the king of Siam.

Eventually, so fierce was the competition for pepper from southern Siam (modern day Thailand) that it lead in part to a blockade of Bangkok by western powers to force concessions from the king. The output of pepper in Siam around that time was estimated to be around 3,000 tons. The new world’s first millionaire, Elias Derby of the Salem colony, made his money importing pepper and went on to endow Yale University. Even now, pepper accounts for a quarter of the global spice trade.

The Thais typically use pepper that has been washed, which makes it look like white pepper, but the taste is not the same. Coarsely ground pepper like that called for in most western recipes is never used. Thai recipes will either call for whole peppercorns, which are ground together with other spices, or if ground pepper is called for, Thais will use pepper that has been ground to a fine powder.

A number of stir-fry recipes will call for fresh green pepper. This is pepper fresh off the vine, and easily available in markets all over the kingdom. Green peppercorns have a very short shelf life. They will begin to blacken within a few days of being picked. Cooks will typically use whole sprigs of green pepper, without separating the seeds from the vine.

Mon 20 Nov 2006

• In Britain £730 million was spent on coffee in 2002
• Britain consumes 500g of coffee per person per year.
• It takes 42 coffee beans to make an espresso.
• Arabica coffee has twice as much caffeine in it than Robusta.
• Over half of the espresso consumed in the UK is drunk in the South East of the country.
• Green coffee beans nearly double in size during roasting, but shrink by 16% by weight.
• From the mid 1800s up until the 1970s, over 50% of Brazil’s foreign trade income came from growing coffee beans.
• Coffee, if it were taxed like wine, would be more expensive than it.
• On average men drink more coffee than women (1.7 cups per day vs 1.5 cups)
• On average, coffee drinkers drink 3.3 cups per day.
• 37% of coffee drinkers drink their coffee black; while 63% add a sweetener such as sugar and/or milk or cream.
• All coffee is grown within 1,000 miles of the equator, from the Tropic of Cancer in the north, to the Tropic of Capricorn in the south.
• Instant coffee accounts for 13% of all coffee drunk.
• Among all major agricultural products of the world, coffee harvesting remains virtually untouched by mechanization.
• 57% of all coffee is drunk at breakfast; 34% between meals; and 13% at other meals.
• It’s estimated more than 100 million Americans drink a total of 400 million cups of coffee a day.
• An ordinary cup of coffee contains about 150 milligrams of caffeine - roughly what most physicians call a "theraputic dose."
• According to the speciality coffee association of America, the premium bean category of the coffee industry has grown into a $1.5 billion annual industry.
• 25 million people are employed in the coffee industry!
• Coffee makes up the genus Coffea of the family Rubiaceae. Arabian coffee is classified as Coffea arabica, robusta coffee as Coffea canephora, and Liberian coffee as Coffea liberica.
• Coffee grows well on the islands of Java and Sumatra and in Arabia, India, Africa, the West Indies and South and Central America.
• The Americas produce approximately 2/3 of the world’s supply of coffee.
• Coffee comes from a small tree 15 to 20 ft high at maturity. It has shiny green elliptic leaves and white, fragrant flowers that bloom for only a few days.
• In the six or seven months after flowering the fruit develops from a light green to red and then eventually to a deep crimson color. It is only then that it is ripe and ready for picking.
• The best soil for growing coffee consists of leaf mold, other organic matter and disintegrated volcanic rock!
• About half of all American adults have a cup of coffee to start their day.
• The coffee tree produces its first full crop when it is about five years old. Thereafter it produces consistently for 15 to 20 years.
• Some coffee trees yield 2 to 3 lb of coffee annually although the average is considered to be 1 lb.
• The two main suppliers of coffee in the world are Brazil and Columbia - 30% of the global coffee total originates from Brazil.
• There are three main commercial types of coffee bean from amongst many - Arabica, Robusta & Liberia.
• The mature coffee resembles a cherry and grows in clusters attached around the limbs of the plant by short stems. It usually contains two seeds, or beans, surrounded by a sweet pulp.
• Coffee trees are cultivated in the cooler climates of the world, with temperatures ranging from 13°C to 26°C (55° to 80°F).
• Plantations range in altitude from sea level to about 1,800m (6000ft) where there are tropical forests.
• Caffeine shortens reaction time, relives tiredness, promotes speed and clarity of thought, and improves idea association
• Robusta and Liberian coffee grows best at lower altitudes, whereas Arabica is better suited to higher altitudes.
• Temperatures for roasting range from about 190°C (380°F) for a light roast, through 200°C (about 400°F) for a medium roast, to about 220°C (425°F) for a dark roast.
• ‘nonvolatile’ taste components in coffee include: caffeine, trigonelline, chlorogenic acid, phenolic acids, amino acids, carbohydrates and minerals.
• ‘volatile’ aroma components in coffee include: organic acids, aldehydes, ketones, esters, amines and mercaptans.
• The principle psychological effects of coffee are due to caffeine, an alkaloid that acts as a mild stimulant.
• Caffeine can be removed from coffee by treating the green beans with chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents. Since the 1980s, non-chemical methods of decaffeination have become more popular. Decaffeinated coffee emerged as far back as 1930.
• The most important substitute for coffee is usually chicory, although it is often used as an extender as opposed to a substitute.
• After brewing, espresso coffee contains 2.5% fat and filter coffee contains 0.6% fat.
• Coffee is second only to oil in world trade.

Note: This text was given to me by coworkers several years ago. I doubt they wrote it on their own, so it’s possible (very likely in fact) that this was copied from a book or the web. If you know who the original author is, please contact me with the information.

Tue 7 Nov 2006

Ninth Century–First record of coffee drinking by the Mufti people of Aden (Legend has it that the ubiquitous bean made its way to Yemen from Ethiopia by traveling merchants through trade routes across the Gulf of Aden)
15th Century–Extensive planting of coffee in Yemen
Late 16th Century–Priests petition Pope Clement VIII to ban the evil drinking of coffee (he refuses–probably a closet coffee lover)
17th Century–First coffee house opened in London (Trivia–coffeehouses became known as "penny universities" because a person could buy a cup of joe for 1 cent and learn more at the coffee house than in class! London Stock Exchange grew from a coffee house)
1656–Coffee drinking prohibited & coffeehouses closed in Turkey by the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (penalty for drinking coffee: a dunk in the Bosphorus in a leather satchel!)
1669–Coffee becomes popular in Europe after Turkish ambassador to France introduces Louis XIV to the magic brew
1674–Women’s Petition Against Coffee established in London
1686–First cafe serving coffee is opened in Paris (Le Procope–it’s still in business!)
1690–Coffee introduced in Java (pardon the pun!)
18th Century–More coffeehouses in London than there are today
1714–Coffee takes root in the Americas (seedlings shipped to Martinique in the West Indies)
1822–First espresso machine made in France
1909–Instant coffee first marketed
1940–Coffee production quotas established by an Inter-American Coffee Board
1962–Coffee export quotas established worldwide by the UN
1970s–Coffee hits the big leagues as Joe DiMaggio endorses "Mr. Coffee"
1989–World coffee prices plunge
1991–The origin of Java (The programming language developed by Sun)

Note: This text was given to me by coworkers several years ago. I doubt they wrote it on their own, so it’s possible (very likely in fact) that this was copied from a book or the web. If you know who the original author is, please contact me with the information.

Tue 7 Nov 2006