How Long Have People Been Using Chili Peppers In Cooking?

Archaeologists have recently discovered that people could have been using chili peppers in cooking more than six thousands years ago.

It was originally thought that the people of Mexico were the first people to use chili peppers in cooking. However, chili grains that were found in the southern part of Ecuador show that they were cultivated and traded thousands of years ago.  Therefore, people in the ancient highlands of Ecuador and Peru may have been the first people in history to use chili peppers in their every day cooking and eating.

At six thousands years old, chili peppers are among the oldest domesticated foods in the western hemisphere.

The remains of the chilli peppers that they found were not well preserved and it was only by finding microscopic starch grains on ancient pestles and mortars and cooking pots that scientists were able to find any evidence of their use.  Columbus took the chili peppers back to Spain where they became popular in other parts of the world.