I got bored and didn't finish this book so I can't give much of an opinion on it

TITLE: Comprehensive, invaluable, fascinating: Reference and cook book. A must-have for all pepper people!

I got excited when I saw that Maricel Pressila had written a new book, as I was familiar with some of her previous works: Her “Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America” from 2012 is awesome and almost overwhelming in its magnitude. After reading it, I knew that Pressila was an author whose works I would always devour. Her books are some of the most detailed, involved, comprehensive and descriptive works you could possibly come across. Her books are meaty and jam-packed with invaluable and trustworthy information. Her writing is solid and thoughtful and personable. When I saw the topic of this new effort is peppers, I was thrilled, and I pre-ordered a copy knowing it was a book I needed in my personal library. In all my nuanced, provocative and improvised cooking--hot and spicy or savory fruity--I am, truly am, a pepper person. The topic of this book is very important to me, and I am very aware of it and its influence on me and my style of cooking--has been for many, many decades and will be until the day I stop eating. (My mother absolutely hates peppers--always has and always will....Does that mean something, too?)

I have to shout it to you: I have not been disappointed in Peppers of the Americas!

Before I delved into the book, I first went looking for mention of my favorite—and somewhat obscure—pepper. It’s not a hot one, and from my Caribbean background, I know it as aji dulce. And of course--as I trusted it would be--it was right there listed in the index with three references and two recipes! And one of those two recipes is a variation on one I make when I am missing the Islands and willing to dip into my dwindling bag of aji dulce from the freezer. I thought: If this book has aji dulce in it, it is very comprehensive. I very seldom find it mentioned in Latin cookbooks. Presilla's descriptive words on dulce aji are right on. And there are pictures, too.

I mention my personal favorite pepper and how I found it in this book for one reason: You have your personal favorite(s), too. And you will go looking for it/them in this book. And I’m pretty positive you will find them listed—with recipes, with interesting information and descriptive words, with pictures.

And, like me, after being assured that your favorites were not forgotten, you will read through the book and learn about all the others. It is a comprehensive book. It is a beautiful book. If you love your peppers—hot or sweet—chili head or pepper lover, cook or gardener, or a combo of all—you will be happy with this book.

It is a reference book and it is a cookbook. I know I will refer to it over and over again. It is beautiful enough to be considered a cocktail table book. It is not dull, nor is it dry: It is bursting with color and luscious and mouth-watering descriptions.

The book delves into the history of peppers, beginning in prehistoric Bolivia and continuing through their travels throughout the world, and into research in the present. You will learn pepper anatomy, and learn about their heat. There are pictures of the fruit, the flower, and the seeds. You will learn something about how to identify the different members of the capsicum family.

Photography and drawings are beautiful and varied. Pictures are clear and large enough to see details.

You will find an excellent photo for each fresh and dried pepper, along with its history, description of the plant, its heat and flavor, and how best to use it.

There is a chapter with helpful hints for growing peppers, and one for “cooking with peppers”. Very helpful to me are the instructions for drying peppers and grinding into powders and roasting them, making pepper vinegars, fermenting hot peppers, and making other pepper condiments. (I especially liked the pepper-spiced pineapple vinegar, with vinegar made from fermenting strips of pineapple skin.)

It may not seem like 40 recipes is a lot, but considering that Presilla provides a wealth of information regarding techniques I mention in the previous paragraph, potential is there for way more than forty recipes. As I read, creative thoughts were pounding and swirling around in my head! And when I counted, there were more than 50, with some recipes within recipes.

There is a decent bibliography and a thorough index. There is an invaluable page of resources, too.

Peppers of the Americas by Maricel E. Presilla is packed full of information on peppers. The first part of the book is a thorough history of peppers and covers how they were used and changed over the years. The second part of the book is a description of the types of peppers. I was thrilled to see one of my favorites, the fish pepper, included. The final section is recipes featuring many different varieties of peppers. The pictures are absolutely gorgeous. My favorite part of the book is the section focusing on the peppers. It is a bit dangerous as now I have a list of peppers to add to my garden next year. If you are a fan of peppers, I recommend checking out this book.

Super reference on peppers of all kinds! As in depth as possible, the history and development of peppers globally is contained in this book, along with outstanding photography. Interesting recipes for rubs, sauces, etc. is here too.

I loved this book, and before I was even half way through the ARC computer download I pre-ordered a hard copy from Amazon. I have been a fan of peppers – particularly the hot ones – for a long time. Mainly to cook with and to eat, but also to admire the look of the fresh fruit. But even so, I was really gobsmacked by the incredible variety and beauty of the many peppers pictured and described in this book. With each picture is an idea of how the pepper is best used, what sort of heat, flavours, perfume etc that is commonly has, often where it grows, and sometimes a bit of history attached to that particular cultivar. I wanted to grow and taste every single one of the peppers – though I have had to realise that won’t really be possible. Still I can dream. And that is just the dictionary part in the middle of the book.
The book begins with an exhaustively researched and fascinating history of peppers, starting with their first appearance in Bolivia and Peru, and then tracking their branching into the five main species: Capsicum annum; C. frutescens; C. chinense;, C. pubescens and C. baccatum, by looking at archaeological findings going back eight thousand years and up to the Hispanic conquests, and then the writings of Spanish and Portuguese invaders, missionaries and travellers, onto the spread to the rest of Europe (particularly through the monasteries), to India, Asia, to Africa – basically everywhere – through recipe books, travellers, physicians and botanists reports … This is a completely new way to examine the history of Columbus’ trips to discover the Americas – via the continent’s food and food related customs. From there, it is a history of how the now regarded as traditional chilli laden cuisines of Thailand, Szechuan China evolved, and how the agribusiness of producing peppers has grown and mutated worldwide, along with its potential ecological and social repurcussions.
The final section is the recipes. I have tried a few, such as the excellent “Red Snapper in a Spicy Creole Sauce”, “Panfried Pork Steaks in Guajillo-Puya Adobo” and the very moreish “Spicy Pickled Cucumber” (made that one twice). There are several that I still want to try, but will wait until I get the hardback book – and the correct peppers.
The recipe section by itself is not especially outstanding – though it does contain a wide range of good recipes. But in combination with the encyclopaedia of peppers, you get a real insight into why you are asked to use particular peppers, what flavours, aromas and particular heat you should expect from the recipe, and which peppers could be used as possible substitutes. I feel I will now have the tools I need to re-examine recipes from other books, which also use peppers, to improve my cooking and understanding. As someone who has previously mainly categorised chillies according to their heat, I have had my eyes opened to how much I have been missing out on. Unlike the author, I cannot readily buy a variety of fresh peppers at local markets (despite living in London), but luckily can order some by mail order from The South Devon Chilli Farm (my order went in today!). So, soon I will embark on more pepper laden meals, and hopefully start growing some too.
This is an exceptional book for anyone interested in cooking, the history of food, world history, archaeology, botany, beautiful plants … Basically, it has something for everyone. I can hardly wait until my own hard copy arrives on my doorstep.

It gives great pleasure to read about so many pepper varities........

This massively in-depth, exhaustive encyclopedia of everything capsicum is a very interesting reference on the history of people and peppers, with in-depth information on history, biology, trade, cultivation, selection and preparation of pepper.

Starting with the earliest evidence of human ingestion of peppers, bulldozing through the tumultuous history of the Americas, and ending up at present day availability and usage, this book does not miss anything.

Towards the end of the book, there are some interesting recipes for rubs, pastes, and sauces, as well as some main and side dishes that showcase peppers.

In accordance with the publisher’s request, I will not publish the following review to Goodreads until 06 June 2017, which is within one week of the book’s publication date.

Peppers of America was the first book on NetGalley that I did not finish in the allotted fifty-five day review period. Although the book offered a comprehensive education on peppers – including the history of peppers, a catalog of different types of peppers, gardening advice, and recipes for cooking with peppers – I couldn’t get past page fifteen. And it was a struggle for me to get that far. The Introduction of the book didn’t engage me and didn’t excite me about reading the remaining 350 pages. Every time I thought about reading the book, I decided to do something else. This has never happened to me before with a NetGalley digital advance reader copy.

Prior to reading the book, I surveyed it quickly by clicking through all the pages from the beginning to the end. There really was no section in the book that compelled me to muddle through to reach it. The catalog of different peppers of America had some lovely pictures of the peppers, but the write ups seemed very academic. None of the recipes that I skimmed during my survey particularly piqued my interest as a must try, which is unusual since I am typically a very adventurous home cook.

I wish I could put my finger on what turned me off to this book, but I really can’t. The author seemed self-aggrandizing with as many times as she mentioned being invited to cook for the White House, but that was just a minor annoyance. I’ve read more ego-centric cookbooks and have been able to get past that in order to finish in time.

I hope this book finds its audience, as it seems like it definitely seems to fill a gap in the landscape of culinary literature. However, I am not its audience.

I was a bit disappointed by this book, not because it didn't have any info in it, it's very thorough and detailed' lots of research went into it. Nope, dumb reason, really, I think it should have had more photos of the peppers! I had hoped that the book would not only teach me about peppers, their history, their uses, etc... but also have loads of color photos. It's a worthwhile book that pepper lovers will enjoy.