Nothing like a little bio-evolutionary look at chile peppers to realize that they are more entwined in our existence here on Planet Earth than the casual observer might think. Check out this cool article from the Oregonian to see just what we mean by this:

Chile pepper heat a matter of evolution

The chile’s power to burn protects it, and us too, Northwest researchers find
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
JOE ROJAS-BURKE
The Oregonian Staff

What happens after you eat chile peppers reads like a list of drug side effects: burning pain, sweating, teary eyes and panic followed by lingering numbness.

The plant makes its mouth-torching ingredients, called capsaicinoids, (cap-SAY-sin-oyds) to stop animals from munching its fruit, biologists say. Perhaps strange, then, how gardeners and cooks have avidly embraced the chile for more than 6,000 years.

University of Washington scientists now propose an explanation: Spiciness evolved as a chemical defense against microbial attacks. And people might have developed a taste for the powerful chile to take advantage of its anti-microbial powers.

“That may not have been an accident,” said UW biologist Joshua Tewksbury, lead author of the study. “Eating chiles might have been very beneficial.”

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