Chili Peppers of the World

From Kottke:

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An amazing visual field guide to the chili peppers of the world by Erik Gauger.

Capsaicin, the compound that makes chili peppers hot, is an evolutionary filter designed to punish animals and reward birds.

Mammals feel it as pain because mammal digestion destroys seeds.

Birds lack the receptor that detects capsaicin, so they eat the fruit, fly off, and deposit seeds far from the plant from which they ate, a dispersal mechanism.

Humans entered the picture late, and changed almost everything about peppers' forms, flavors, and range. 

But the underlying logic of nature remains in every fruit: a molecule that says no to the animals who won't deliver its parent seeds far from the rooted plant.

Includes hand-drawn illustrations of 176 different peppers, where they originated, their heat levels, and which hot sauces include them.

Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?