Quotations about Hot Peppers and Spicy Food
I eat mustard, pepper, and similar hot substances because I like things that give my palate a twist. ~Anonymous gentleman, said to
We run crazy after things that are like the red peppers, — pretty outside, but hot as fire when we get to playing with them. Our lesson is right hard. But a punishment sin brings with it is remembered longer than a hundred warnings. God doesn't push us towards hot peppers — He lets us alone, but we are mighty apt to run to Him after we've got a fair taste. ~Marion Harland (Mary Virginia Terhune), Alone, 1857
The MOSQUITO... bites the 1st time as sharp and natural as red pepper does. ~Josh Billings
SCOTT: I'll tell ya, this chili's amazing, guy. It's got an incredible kick.
ERIC: Eight alarms... Wait till you see what kind of dreams you have tonight.
~Here Comes the Boom, 2012, written by Allan Loeb, Kevin James, and Rock Reuben
There were green infernos and green terrors, yellow jackets and yellow furies, red torrids and red frenzies. ~James Street (1903–1954), "The Grains of Paradise"
Novice cooks should be forewarned. Chili can increase in strength under some conditions. A salsa mild in the evening may grow startling by morning, numbing by noon. ~Lee Coe, "Chili Pepper: The Spice that Ate the East," in Arizona Highways, 1983, arizonahighways.com
I was looking forward to some real Capsicums, fresh from the bush and oozing their pungent piperine. ~James Street (1903–1954), "The Grains of Paradise"
First, soup was served in quaint, glazed pottery bowls, elaborately ornamented on the outside with vines and flowers, and on top of each bowl was a hot tortilla... Next came a roast of pork, filled with spices and pepper. While hot enough to make one scream, it was nevertheless, delicious. With all the courses, we were served with salsa de chili bravo (green pepper-sauce). Our host took great pains to initiate me into the merits of this sauce, but I could scarcely look at it without shedding tears copiously over its pungency. ~Fanny Chambers Gooch, Face to Face with the Mexicans, 1887
We chili heads can pass judgment upon an entire Mexican menu by tasting one droplet of the sauce. ~Don Dedera (1929–2020), "Don't Call it Latin Food," in Arizona Highways, 1983, arizonahighways.com
I was warm inside from the beer and peppers, and felt chipper for the first time in weeks... ~James Street (1903–1954), "The Grains of Paradise"
My lips stung and the lining of my mouth was hot with quick and then prickling stings. I had taken two red frenzies, and without sweat, without the hard blowing of the breath. Then a red torrid. My lips had hardened to the sting, but my mouth was ridging inside. Then the tingle was in my throat and deep down. Now a greenish yellow fury. I felt the sweat ooze out on the back of my neck, down under my collar. I was hurting, the numbing burn of piperine, a crystalline alkaloid that tightens the tissues like wet rawhide. Each minute got longer. Next, a green buster. The heat seared down to my belly. ~James Street (1903–1954), "The Grains of Paradise"
They have hot peppers in Louisiana. Little red devils with fire in their skin and hell in their seeds. ~James Street (1903–1954), "The Grains of Paradise"
But they do not eat hot peppers in the United States. Here and there, yes. But hot peppers there are weak peppers here. ~James Street (1903–1954), "The Grains of Paradise" [Village of Feliz, Tabasco, México, "nine hundred miles from nowhere"
Hilario Villareal is the best pepper man in Feliz. He eats furias for breakfast. With beer. He grows his own peppers and has a secret. He wet-rots leaves for his plants and grows them on a south slope that is sheltered on three sides. And in the dry season he waters them from a bucket. I tell you to have respect for his peppers. His soil is very sour and his peppers are very hot. ~James Street (1903–1954), "The Grains of Paradise"
Amomum melegueta! I had never seen a whole one before. The spice trade calls them Guinea peppers. Such little nuggets launched armadas in the old days, sails from Spain and Portugal. Men died for those peppers as for gold and glory. They are the hottest things that grow and their seeds are praised as the grains of paradise. ~James Street (1903–1954), "The Grains of Paradise"
Ay, but the mustard is too hot a little. ~William Shakespeare
His wit's as thick as Tewksbury mustard... ~William Shakespeare
And of the heat of the ginger... he is pure air and fire... ~William Shakespeare
Yes, by Saint Anne, and ginger shall be hot i' the mouth too. ~William Shakespeare
[F]etch more spices... ~William Shakespeare
Too hot, too hot! ~William Shakespeare
The first edition of that remarkable cookery book, the "Dons de Comus," appeared about 1740... It was composed by M. Marin, cook of the Duchesse de Chaulnes. The very learned and ingenious preface, signed de Querlon, is by Father Brumoy, the Jesuit... An Italian author calls a preface the sauce of a book, "La Salsa del Libro;" and certainly never was there a more piquant and spicy sauce than that of the erudite Father. ~A. V. Kirwan, Host and Guest: A Book about Dinners, Wines, and Desserts, 1864