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Pepper, Cayenne

Cayenne pepper is a compound article, the chief ingredient of which is the epidermis and pulp of the common capsicum, a plant much cultivated in most tropical climates. The best cayenne pepper is manufactured in the West Indies. "The berries, which are often larger than an egg, although other varieties are scarcely larger than a clove, are opened, and the seeds are taken out: the scarlet epidermis and pulp are then well beaten up with flour and salt into a paste, which is afterwards baked until quite hard, and then ground into a coarse powder, which is put into well-corked bottles for use. Other methods are used, but this is the mode of preparing the much-prized West India cayenne pepper." Cayenne pepper has become a necessary article at table, and is highly esteemed for its flavour and the quality it is supposed to possess of aiding the digestion of fish and other kinds of food. One may reasonably question whether indulgence in this powerful spice is conducive to health, for though cayenne pepper, like highly-flavored Indian soys, may occasionally assist digestion, it would perhaps be better for persons of weak digestion to abstain from food requiring a vigorous stomach, than to employ artificial stimulants. The capsicum from which cayenne pepper is mostly obtained is a native of the East and West Indies, where it grows readily with very little care.