Cayenne pepper

Synonyms in a broader sense

  • Chili
  • Peppers
  • Tabasco
  • Spanish pepper
  • Porsche

Cayenne pepper, Latin Capsicum frutescens, belongs to the nightshade family (Solanacea). It is an annual herb that grows about 20 to 100 cm high. In the tropics it also grows perennially.

The semi-shrub consists of woody, bulky, branched stems with individual oblong – oval leaves. The dirty-white flowers are sometimes two to four in the axils of the upper leaves and are stalked and nodding. The flowers have five stamens with anthers that look purple. The plant later forms 5 cm long, leathery, shiny red, yellow or green fruits, which are harvested in midsummer.

History

The cayenne pepper, also known as chili, has its home in South America. It owes its name to the port city of Cayenne, on the Devil’s Islands in Guyana. Long before the arrival of the Europeans, many different varieties of cayenne pepper were cultivated by South American Indians. The Spanish introduced the plant to Europe at the end of the 15th century. This gave it the nickname “Spanish pepper”.

Summary

The plant is originally native to South America but is mainly imported from Africa. Ripe, dried fruits are processed into the medicine. Cayenne pepper belongs to a pungent species of the nightshade family.

The pungency of the cayenne pepper or chili is purely a protection for the plant. So it is not destroyed / eaten by predators. The pods of the medicinal plant are red, yellow and green and have a high rim for the seeds.

These sit on the so-called placenta. This placenta has glands that contain the capsicum (the pungency of cayenne pepper). The alkaloid capsaicum is colourless and very stable and cannot be destroyed by boiling or freezing. The most important medicinal active ingredients of the chilli peppers are capsaicinoids such as capsaicum and dihydrocapsaicum, but also flavonoids, steroid saponins, carotenoids and essential oils.

Production

For medicinal purposes, ripe, dried fruits are used, which have a strong orange to red colour and form pods with a pungent taste. Preparations in effective dosages of cayenne pepper are available in the form of ointments, creams, tinctures or plasters (e.g. ABC plasters, heat plasters). They are available as ready-to-use preparations for external application. The medicinal effect is based on the content of capsaicinoids.

Therapy and areas of application

The preparations made from chillies are one of the few herbal painkillers whose effectiveness is guaranteed. They are not taken. They are applied to the painful area from outside in the form of plasters, tinctures or ointments.

The capsaicum from the cayenne pepper acts on the nerves in the painful area in such a way that signals are no longer emitted, thus providing relief. The sensation of pain is temporarily reduced. The blood circulation is stimulated at the place of application.

The capsaicum is quickly absorbed by the skin, an effect occurs after only three to five minutes. The applications of the medicinal plant have been proven with:. The cayenne pepper mixture is used repeatedly in the case of painful muscle tension in the shoulder, arm and spine areas. The nerve pain occurring in diabetics (e.g. post-zoster neuralgia, diabetic neuropathy, phantom pain) or pain after shingles, as well as pain after joint inflammation/arthrosis can be treated with cayenne pepper. – severe muscle pain

  • Muscle hardening
  • Torn muscle fibre
  • Lumbago
  • Rheumatoid arthritis (rheumatism)