The Pepper Extravaganza in Clearwater will cover the benefits and the taste sensations of - you guessed it - peppers.
By TIFFANI SHERMAN
Published June 3, 2004
CLEARWATER - Call it the power of the pepper.
"It's used to prevent illness and boost the immune system," said Rose Kalajian, a herbalist and owner of the Natural Health Hut Herb Clinic in Wesley Chapel.
Saturday and Sunday, Kalajian and others will preach pepper power during the seventh annual Pepper Extravaganza at Beckett Lake Nursery, just north of Sunset Point Road and just west of Belcher Road.
The event is free, and more than 25 vendors will sell all sorts of pepper products. Many will have free samples available. Pepper "experts" will give talks both days about growing, cooking and healing with peppers.
During her seminars, Kalajian, 50, will tell people how peppers contain phyto-chemicals and capscium. Both boost the immune system and help with clotting. Peppers are also high in vitamins C and A and low in both fat and calories.
The capscium is what makes a pepper hot.
It "stimulates the circulation and makes you sweat," Kalajian said. "If you have a fever, you want to sweat it out." Eating peppers is also good for people with cold hands or feet, Kalajian said.
The heat will definitely be rising all weekend, thanks to the amateur salsa and hot sauce contests. Up to 25 contestants can show up and enter their homemade creations.
"It's getting to be pretty popular," said event coordinator Stephanie Thoresen, 38, of Dunedin. Arriving early to enter a salsa on Saturday or a hot sauce on Sunday is key. Almost anyone can enter, but once there are 25, the contest is closed.
"As long as they don't make money and they're doing it as a hobby, they can participate," Thoresen said.
The winner receives "a nice trophy and a gift certificate or two," Thoresen said. "It's something pretty showy."
"Peppers are so easy to grow in this part of the country," Kalajian said. They like the warm weather, just as people like the spice they contain.
The Scoville scale, invented by pharmacist Wilbur Scoville in 1912, measures the heat of each type of pepper. At first it was a subjective taste test, but now uses more sophisticated chemistry to measure the compounds that make peppers hot.
A sweet bell measures a zero on the Scoville scale. A pepperoncini is 100 to 500, a jalapeno ranges from 2,500 to 8,000. The habanero will likely burn your tongue with levels of 100,000 to 325,000.
"Everything I make with the scotch bonnet pepper is my favorite," said Paula Lake, 42, of Clearwater, who has a car license plate that says MS CHILE. The scotch bonnet is one hot pepper, registering 150,000 to 325,000 on the Scoville scale, hotter than some habaneros.
"They're shaped like a bonnet and can be green, red, yellow or brown," said Lake, who will sell several different types of her sauces at the nursery this weekend. She'll join vendors from all over the country, but said she may have an advantage because people in the area know her and her products. "I'm the local gal."
IF YOU GO
The seventh annual Pepper Extravaganza at Beckett Lake Nursery, 2251 Montclair Road, Clearwater, runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday. There will be cooking demonstrations at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. both days; health benefits demonstrations at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. both days; and growing demonstrations 1 p.m. both days. Parking is free. For more information, call 727 796-7950 or check www.beckettlakenursery.com
