Hi, I’m Anna Jones and this is my weekly newsletter, a celebration of cooking, vegetables and life. It’s great to have you here. If you have found yourself here but are not yet subscribed then you can sort that out below.
This week’s newsletter is part of an occasional series on my favourite ingredients. The first issue on capers is here, tahini here and vinegar here. These are the ingredients I rely heavily on in my kitchen to add flavour quickly.
This newsletter is coming to you a day early because you/we/I need these recipes in this heat. God, do we need them. I’ve been thinking about what it is I want in this heat. It’s cold food, hot chilli and shattering crunch. These recipes bring it all.
As I spooned this ice cold melon salad onto my plate and as I scooped icy yoghurt dip onto crisps both of these recipes felt like exactly the perfect thing to eat right now.
In this weather it feels fitting to be talking about heat, chilli heat. Chillies feel like a world of flavour in themselves, from searing heat to gentle hum. I love the verdant brightness of a fresh green chilli, the fruity burn of a scotch bonnet, the mellow, rounded heat from dried chillies - whole raisiny ancho chillies, spoonable bright harissa, smoky chipotle in adobo.
Chilli gives heat, a warming sensation in your mouth. This warming feeling is not actually your mouth heating up, but something called chemesthesis – your mouth’s response to irritation.
When we eat something spicy, from a hot chilli to a peppercorn, our sensory receptors get irritated and that gives the sensation we get from ‘hot’ or spicy food. Chilli heat is measured in Scovilles and ranges from a mild red pepper to chillies that will blow your socks off.
Chilli also contains capsaicin, which triggers temperature receptors in the brain and makes you sweat. As liquid evaporates off your skin, it creates an effective cooling effect so as we all know eating chilli in the heat just makes sense.
My Dad can’t eat chilli. Some people just can’t. We have lost count of the number of times we’ve had to get him milk or a lassi when a curry is too hot. It’s always quite dramatic. We find it funny, Rog finds it less funny. Sorry Rog.
In Mexico alone, there are close to a hundred varieties of chilli. In the UK, we use very few varieties but I would make an argument for bringing as many chillies as you can into your cooking. I’ve shared a list of my favourites that we can get our hands on in the UK for you below.
It might seem strange to be writing about chilli heat this week but this is when I really crave chilli and this salad is what I want on a hot day. Cooling, bright and fresh and most importantly COLD.
So this week for my paid subscribers along with everything I know about chilli, I have the salad I make when it’s really hot and an ice-cold dip that goes in the freezer…
Ice cold Melon, tomatoes two chillies with mozzarella, Icy yoghurt dip and everything I know about chilli
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