Chillies Are Both a Tasty Seasoning And a Good Appetite Booster

Chillies are rich in vitamins, especially vitamin C, vitamin A, protein, calcium, phosphorus and iron, and are very nutritious, especially red chillies.

Chillies are also known as peppers, spicy eggplants, spicy tigers, waxed eggplants, chicken mouth peppers, red sea peppers, spicy seeds, large peppers, sharp peppers. It is the fruit of the pepper plant of the Solanaceae family. The Food Materia Medica earlier recorded the efficacy of this product as "eliminating hunger, relieving knotted gas, appetizing the appetite, warding off evil and killing fishy toxins." It is native to the tropical regions of Central and South America, and is most abundant in Mexico.

It can be argued that: chillies are a widely cultivated and consumed food worldwide, used not only to make various forms of seasoning, but also to prepare a variety of delicious dishes to whet the appetite. There are mainly red and green peppers, both sweet and spicy, in different shapes. The more pointed the pepper, the thinner the flesh and the heavier the spicy flavour; the thicker the flesh, the more sweet the pepper, shaped like a persimmon, and mostly eaten as a vegetable. Small, thin-skinned and pointed, they are mostly dried when ripe and are mainly used as a condiment. The dried red pepper, known as the "red steak" in India, is considered the "national food" by the Mexicans.

Chillies are rich in vitamins, especially vitamin C, vitamin A, protein, calcium, phosphorus and iron, and are particularly nutritious, especially red chillies. It can enhance gastrointestinal peristalsis, stimulate saliva and gastric juice secretion, promote blood circulation, regulate drainage functions, inhibit abnormal fermentation in the intestine, promote the discharge of gas accumulated in the digestive tract, relieve muscle pain, accelerate metabolism and alleviate discomfort caused by colds.

It is classified as a warming herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine and is recognized as having the ability to warm the middle of the body and disperse cold, appetite and insecticide, and can be used for pain, bloating, anorexia, vomiting, diarrhoea and dysentery caused by stomach cold, as well as frostbite, scabies, rheumatic paralysis and wind-cold.

Chillies can be used as ingredients and seasoning for dishes, but they can also be stir-fried, steamed or roasted, pounded with ground ginger, salt and sesame oil, and made into chilli sauce, chilli oil, chilli paste and chilli noodles.

However, chilli is a very pungent and hot substance and is not suitable for everyone. Excessive consumption may aggravate the condition of people with Yin deficiency and fire, and may cause bleeding in patients with stomach ulcers. It should not be eaten by people with respiratory tract inflammation, haemorrhoids, sores and boils. Patients with high blood pressure and tuberculosis should eat with caution.