An Anarchy of Chillies by Caz Hildebrand is another book that aims to bring some Chilli love to the masses. It’s not a deep and meaningful look into anything Chilli related in particular. It’s more of pick up and browse coffee table book full of interesting little tidbits and trivia about out favourite fruits.
An Anarchy of Chillies, of course, opens with an introduction to Chillies. A brief history of them and some assorted trivia alongside a brief explanation of what makes them tick. There is nothing a lot of people reading this probably doesn’t know already, but it’s a good inclusion for the more casual reader.
Moving into the book itself, it covers a hundred different chillies, literally from mild to wild.
The first entry finds us starting off with the humble Bell Pepper weighing in at zero Scoville Heat Units (SHU) through to the last entry of the infamous Carolina Reaper at it’s two point two million Scovilles. It makes sense to do it this way. It’s kind of like a Chillihead videogame, getting harder and harder as you progress through it until you get to the boss level.
Each page has a description of the Chilli itself, a size guide to the average fruit size (I assume), their origin. A suggested foodie type use, and also what species the plant belongs to (Capsicum Annuum et all). Pretty much all you could want to know about each fruit on show.
I’m going to have to admit there are quite a few Chillies included in this book that I’d not heard of before. I’m not totally sure if that’s down to naming or not though. Fear not though, this book does address the different names a Chilli can have as well. Well, as much as it can do.
For example, what I call Bishops Crown. This is a Chilli that has many, many names. I won’t try and list them all here. In An Anarchy of Chillies it is predominantly named “Christmas Bell”. Reading the description you can find a selection of it’s other names listed as well, which is probably the only way this minefield of could be addressed.
There is a page at the back of the book which does give an “Index of Alternative Common Names” where I could look up “Bishops Crown” and see which page it was described on. That’s a nice attention to detail as well I thought.
Each of the Chilli pages is accompanied by an illustration of the chilli it’s referring to. I’d be lying if I said I was a massive fan of the artwork. It’s a little, simplistic for my tastes. Gaudy vector art is how I’d describe it. I suppose if I was a fan of vector art as a whole I might find it more appealing, but I’m not and you might just well be. This kind of thing is subjective and I don’t think it takes anything away from the book itself.
There are a few pages where the illustration is just one big picture of a Chilli. The entry for Bulgarian Carrot for example. Simple picture, nice and clean.
But other pages make it look like it was designed with some kind of psychedelia influence. left to this book alone I’d have no clue what a Malagueta chilli looked like.
I’d have been happier with the illustrations if they where all along the lines of the Bulgarian Carrot. But that isn’t the case.
While I’m on the subject of the design of An Anarchy of Chillies. One other complaint I do have is that some of the pages can be quite hard to read down to the background colour.
And it is just some of the pages, don’t get me wrong. Most of the text is on a white background or some other pastel colour which doesn’t distract at all. Others, like the picture shows above wander into the gaudy territory, again. Perhaps a change in colour of the text to white, or yellow even would have been better?
One more thing on the design of the book. Once “The Chillies” section of the book kicks in there is a heat scale type thing on each of the left hand pages. As you might imagine this goes up along with the heat in the Chillies as per the books format. But this scale doesn’t seem to make any sense. It doesn’t relate to the page number. It doesn’t relate to the “Chilli Number”. It doesn’t relate to the Scoville rating. It’s just “there”.
Maybe I’m missing something? And, if I am please feel free to comment and let me know!
OK – Minor niggles aside now. Because they are just that, minor.
I was pleasantly surprised with some of the lesser known chillies listed in this book. I mentioned earlier that there was some I’d not heard of, but there are others I’ve grown that I know aren’t out there as a popular choice for growing. Filius Blue for example, one of my favourite all time chillies to grow for Ornamental reasons.
Anything that brings these chillies more into the lime light is a good thing in my book. Or, Caz Hildebrand’s book as the case in point.
Once the Chillies have been done, dusted and listed towards the back of the book you’ve got some more things to look at. A basic growing guide alongside a list of Chilli seeds specialists, all but one I’d heard of which is reassuring in itself.
There is a competent list of all the different ways you can use chillies; roasting, pickling, flaking and anything else you can think of. Quick and simple descriptions for all, but enough to send you on your way.
One of these sections I do appreciate quite a bit is a part about “flavour note”. Caz has gone to the effort of putting together a list of chillies and what you can expect from them. Citrus, Earthy, Floral, Fruity etc. I don’t think I’ve seen a list quite like it before.
Likewise Caz has gone on to give lists based on what food they pair best with. Salads, Fish, Stir Fries, Stuffing and the like – That got an appreciative head nod from me as well. It’s not all about the heat that chillies can provide, there are many wonderful pairings that can be had if you get it right.
As I detailed, my main grievances with this book are based around the design. But that’s a personal choice. Overall it’s a book I’m very happy to have in my collection and on my book shelf, or coffee table. An Anarchy of Chillies is a deceptively clever and interesting book.
Even if you’re not buying it for yourself it’d make a great present for someone with even a passing interest in chillies. There is enough detail to make anyone happy, and perhaps more importantly gives you all the information you need should anyone wish to take the interest further.
You can buy the book from Amazon* and I’d imagine most other book shops would be able to get it in for you if you asked nicely.