UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 38, Page 3
August 6, 1992
Employee's pepper plants a private passion

     If you think that Taco Bell's heartiest sauce is too darn hot,
if you ask for "mild" when you order your McDonald's breakfast burrito
and if you think Old Bay seasoning is the most your taste buds can
handle, then don't talk to Emma Amuti.
     This Office of University Development associate for research and
special projects is a self-proclaimed "hot head," and proud of it.
But, because of her familiarity with mouth-flaming, earth-scorching,
skin-burning peppers, she can only offer a bemused smile upon hearing
descriptions about what others think is too hot to handle.
     Amuti was not always a pepper person. She learned about the
variety and intensity of the food from her husband, Kofi, a senior
research biologist at the Du Pont Co. A native of Kenya, he had been
accustomed to using the vegetables in his dishes, but when the couple
moved to Newark from Michigan, they had difficulty in finding ethnic
groceries that sold what they needed.
     Since 1979, they've been growing and packaging their own peppers.
     The seeds come from Mexico, China, Korea, the Caribbean, Africa,
Thailand, Venezuela, Peru, Jamaica, Japan and the southwest U.S.
     Some of the seeds are bought through catalogs, others are given
by friends.
     Kofi Amuti spends a lot of time growing plants in the lab, as
part of his work, so gardening serves as both relaxation and a chance
to see the practical side of his work, according to his wife.
     Over the years, friends have spread the word about the Amuti
family hobby, which includes planting, cultivating, harvesting,
packaging and freezing. In the process, Emma Amuti has become
something of a semiprofessional professor of peppery.
     A few years ago, the Amutis donated several trays of plants for a
fundraising sale at the Wilmington Flower Market.
     They were bought up almost immediately by other hot heads in the
area and, for the last two years, Emma Amuti has given lectures on
peppers and pepper plants at the May charitable fair held in Rockford
Park.
     Amuti says several facts and misconceptions about peppers have
come up during those lectures:

     * People think it's the skin of the plant that makes the pepper
       hot. It's not; it's the oil inside the vegetable.
     * Peppers are not only red. They also may be green, yellow,
       purple and even white. The belief that the redder the skin the
       hotter the pepper is totally false.
     * Peppers can be elongated, round, almost any shape, and some can
       grow as large as a decent-sized tomato.

     Peppers can be used in anything, says Amuti, including chili,
soup or eggs. The only restriction is the chef's individual taste.
Much of her  own cooking with peppers is done through trial and error,
Amuti says.
     Amuti says those who think that the Mexican jalapeno pepper is
really hot stuff should try the Mexican serrano, the Cuban habanero,
the domestic red cayenne and her husband's special, the African Red
Hot Devil.
     Taste buds are accustomed to certain levels of heat from
vegetables or other foods, she warns, so anyone entering into a new
relationship with the pepper family should do so slowly.
     "With something like a habanero," she explains, "you have to be
really seasoned to take a whole one and use it. If you put it into a
pot of chili, it will flow through and heat the whole pot."
                                        -Ed Okonowicz