(19) The Dry Piquin Chili as a Potential and Natural Industry in Sonora, Mexico

Abstract

The piquin chili (Capsicum annuum L.), a type of high-pungency small-ball chili fruit, is traditional among Sonoran people and is consumed as paprika and dry fruit in some regional dishes. Also, the high prices obtained in domestic and oversea markets every year, mainly through piquin dry fruit sales, have encouraged this small informal and seasonal industry. In some Sonoran Mountain ranges, where piquin chili plants grow wild, a latent, informal industry has been maintained by people who harvest piquin chilies as fresh and dry fruits for sale. Enough precipitation, good environment conservation, and other conditions maintain the natural preservation of this chili plant, so that the piquin chili industry is maintained without cultivation, and has become a natural and ecological chili industry. During harvest time (September through November), low-income people harvest by hand dry piquin chili fruits for sale in several cities in Sonora. After harvesting, fresh red piquin chili fruits must be dried over several days. The fruit is spread out over a fabric during sunny days and removed at nights, and the small piquin red fruits dry in just a few days. Usually dry piquin chili presentations are sold in liter (0.25-lb) or kilogram (2-lb) lots. Throughout the 2005 dry piquin chili harvesting season, sales reached prices close to $18 and $82 (U.S. dollars) per liter or kilogram, respectively. Although the dry piquin chili is exported to the United States, fresh fruit sales are still limited to the domestic Sonoran market. The piquin chili harvesting season offers temporary employment and represents, in part, an important source of family income.