From Bhutan to Pennsylvania

It was one of those variable Tyler Hill days when we first planted our Bhutan pepper plants. We had coaxed them from seed to seedling over the spring. We started planting in bright morning sun, and were intermittently driven indoors by bursts of hard rain, While waiting out the rains, we Googled Bhutan, of which we knew nothing.
Bhutan, we learned, is one-third the size of the state of Pennsylvania. It is landlocked, located between India and China in the extreme eastern Himalayan Mountains The geography is mostly steep mountains, rising to above 23,000 feet, deep valleys, thick forests and swift rivers. It has an amazingly intact ecoculture, 5500 varieties of plant life, and is home to many rare and endangered mammals, including the red panda, snow leopard, and golden langur. Less than three percent of Bhutan is arable. and Bhutanese farmers grow primarily rice and chili peppers.
So what were we doing planting these exotic peppers in our Tyler Hill garden, elevation 1,200 feet?

What got us started with Bhutan peppers in 2014 was a visiting Bhutanese Buddhist Lama. Our friends and neighbors in Tyler Hill, D. and S., were hosting him for his six-month sabbatical in the U.S. He was not willing to come without the beloved pepper eaten by Bhutanese at practically every meal; Bhutanese peppers had not been not grown or sold in the U.S.; and no other pepper would do for the Lama. He brought the chile seeds in the deep pockets of his robes and handed them off to D. and S., who handed them off to us to grow.
They surprised us by growing robustly. With our short Northeast Pennsylvania growing season, we often had trouble getting our peppers to flower, set fruit and ripen. But these seeds produced strong plants with lush foliage. By October, we were blessed with multiple glossy deep red, undulating, curved cayenne-like fruits with rippled skin. To taste, they provided heat that came on fast and a fruity sweetness that lingered. Could we be tasting something of the landscape of Bhutan?
There are 25 wild and five cultivated species of chile plants, four of which are grown in Bhutan. The first chile that came to Bhutan, and the one most associated with the country is a variety of Capsicum, annuum L., the species that includes bell pepper, cayenne, poblano and jalapeño. Original to Mexico and Northern S America, it was brought to India by Portuguese explorers in the 1500s. Capsicum annuum did very well in mountainous Bhutan, at least up to 9,000 feet.
There are no written records of the Asian journey of the chilis to Bhutan, but it has been commonly thought that chilis came to Bhutan through India via pilgrims and traders. However, the Indian chilis are notably different from the Bhutanese. The Japanese scientist Ichiro Fukuda collected chilis grown in different elevations in Bhutan and did electropheresic experiments, determining that chili plants in Bhutan are differentiated by adaptation for elevation. She also determined, based on observation and experiments, that the Bhutan pepper is dissimilar to any found in any region of neighboring India.
Fukuda did find the same type of Capsicum annuum as Bhutan in the Yunnan region of Southern China, quite a distance from Bhutan and different from chilis grown in other regions of China. She says, “Although Sekirin (Yunnan) and Bhutan are far separated, the Hani nationality living and eating the chili pepper in Yunnan and the Drukpa nationality living and eating the chili pepper in Bhutan both originated from Tibet.”
A Japanese agricultural researcher doing field work in Bhutan in the 1990s stated: “I have investigated… chili peppers in the Asian region for several years, but I had never seen such big and beautiful chili peppers in those regions.”

Chilies, although loved and eaten in many cultures, are classified as spices with negligible nutritional value. In Bhutan they are used as a vegetable, and are included in every meal. Almost all Bhutanese dishes contain chilies in one form or another. Small children are trained to tolerate the heat of the peppers. According to a Bhutanese blogger, “As little toddlers the number of times you hear that you are handsome or beautiful is in proportion to the amount of chilis you eat.”
Bhutanese are known for their passionate love of their chilis. Ethnographic field work demonstrates that a family of four might buy two kilos of fresh green chilis every week, supplemented by an ample supply of dried chilis. The Bhutan Department of Agriculture has calculated the average person consumes 16 kg (35 pounds) of chilis per year. The government is helping farmers to produce winter chilis to meet the high demand and to circumvent the import of chilis from India through development of new winter hardy strains, trench planting and innovative irrigation techniques
Chilis are not just a passion, they are deemed a food item necessary for survival, exemplified here: “Addictions to ema (chili) are formed early in life and the victims, I, for one, never recovered,” said Abi Sonam Kitsho, 85. “On cold winter days, I get such a passionate yearning for a bowl of ema datsi, that I nearly lose my mind.”
Chilis are used in rituals as well: families burn them in the house to chase away unwelcome demons that cause illness and misfortune. They are burned during festivals and religious rituals, and are put in the local liquor for good luck.
As I roast our chilis over coals, I can imagine the intense aroma of a village in Bhutan.
We two Pennsylvanians have fallen hard for our Bhutanese peppers. Last week, I roasted the last batch for a smoky hot sauce and broke into a cold sweat when I thought I had neglected to save seed (luckily there were two that escaped me). They have not failed us for the past 10 years. We know that chili peppers are strongly tied to place, influenced by local soils, climate and culture and, I submit, passion.
Without direct comparison and scientific analysis, we cannot say how the chile that we grow in Pennsylvania soil, surrounded by chilis from diverse geographies, has changed from that grown in the soil of Bhutan. But it has made it here and done well, and given us much joy. I don’t imagine that my wife and I will get to Bhutan in our lifetime. But we feel a warm connection by planting and nurturing its fanatically loved chili. Growing chilis can take you places.
Caveat: Per U.S. Customs, all travelers entering the U.S. are required to declare any plant part intended for propagation and to obtain a foreign phytosanitary certificate in advance of traveling.

Learn more

herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/plants400/Profiles/cd/Capsicum
Fukuda, I 1993. Chili Peppers in Bhutan, Science Reports of Tokyo Woman’s Christian University 99-103: 1205-1210
himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/bot/pdf/bot_2009_02_06.pdf
kinleytshering.blogspot.com/2009/09/chili-obsession-among-bhutanese.html
thebhutanese.bt/bhutanese-chilli-production-finally-survives-the-winter
www.dailybhutan.com/article/chillies-a-spicy-affair-in-bhutan