The Hot Book of Chillies

by David Floyd

What makes chilies hot? What are the health benefits of eating them? What are the best ways to grow them, cook with them, and preserve them? Chili lovers will salivate as they browse a gallery of 97 of the most popular varieties, from the mild jalapeño to the blistering habañero, from the tiny piquin to the gigantic NuMex Big Jim. They’ll learn astonishing facts about the history and biology of chilies. And along with the fascinating lore, they’ll enjoy deliciously eye-watering recipes from Chipotles in Adobo to Thai Chili Sorbet.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cookbooks

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn’t expecting this to be my first book finished in 2021! It was an interesting birthday present, thoroughly enjoyed. I learned a lot. I can honestly say I had no idea of the vast numbers of chilli varieties, or anything of SHU heat measurements, and it was fascinating to read about them, as well as to learn some of the history and development of this amazing little fruit.

My version was a paperback published by CompanionHouse Books in 2019.

[Tiberiu Baranyi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting - from the perspective of a "fan" chilies it was a very good read ... although I was expecting more details and a bit more stories ... but the classification part is really good and the recipes listed are also interesting.

[Lee Broderick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always say that chillies can improve most things so it's probably no surprise that I liked this short book. It's written with an obvious passion by the creator of Hot Juan's chilli foods and is a well presented glossy hardback littered with colour photo's.

The book's entirely accessible for newcomers to this bizarre obsession but also offers something for long-term admirers of the tear-inducing fruit. David Floyd begins the book by outlining the plant's social history before covering its biology in the second chapter. The middle section of the book is a (sensibly not keyed [and if you're wondering why that's sensible try comparing lots of different chillies]) guide to ninety six of the varieties of chillies most commonly encountered by the home cook and gardener, all illustrated (in a break with the rest of the book) with watercolours instead of photographs. I'm a big fan of illustrations being used instead of photographs in identification guides but it's fair to say that some of these are not that clear.

So, now that we know where chillies come from, how they work and what they look like, we're left with the question of what to do with them. The next chapter of the book covers everything from growing chillies to pickling and smoking them, before 50+ pages (nearly half the book) are given over to recipes.

The back section of the book is devoted to both a thorough index and to an extensive list of suppliers (of chillies and chilli related products). This list includes all of Floyd's UK based friends in the industry and, more surprisingly, several other suppliers in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA.

[AK · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hot book of chillies contains all you need to know about

safe ways of handling chillies
growing the plants in your kitchen garden
different methods of preseserving chilliepods

Read about the history and biology of the plant, it nutritional and medicinal properties, how to preserve chillies and how to prepare a range of eye-watering recipes.