All this talk about chillies being good for you and bad for you, let me tell you a short story - short because it's past my bedtime now LOL.

A number of years ago my dad was diagnosed with serious angina, it was that bad that he couldn't even mop the floor without being in serious pain. Walking was a problem to him and he used to go pale and have to take a spray before he could carry on.

I've always been a fan of spicy food, Indian first and Mexican being a close second. He started eating the food I cooked and I'm known for using chillies in most of my food - so much so that many people opt out of eating anything I cook. (I love chillies and I believe that they have many medicinal properties to one's health.) Well, to cut a long story short, his health improved drastically and he's never had an angina attack since he started eating the food I cook with chillies in it.

I believe that chillies are a medicinal food and they have many beneficial properties to one's health, but like so many things in nature, they can be used and/or abused. Take a look at marijuana, it has medicinal health benefits but it's abused in the sense that people use it to get a high. Opium is the most powerful painkiller known to man, yet it's abused. I believe that chillies and other spices have numerous health benefits, yet people use them in the wrong way.

As people have pointed out on this forum before, people use too many spices and that highly spiced food can be bad for people, regardless of race or skin type. Spices should be used in moderation and then they are fine.

What i don''t 'get' about chillies and chilli sauces is why people are always trying to create something hotter all of the time, why? There's more to chillies than just the heat. Chillies have a fantastic flavour and in my opinion that's what they're about. You hear and read stories about people creating hotter sauces all of the time - this sauce has this chilli in it and that chilli in it, plus it contains six million scoville extract, why? What are people trying to prove? It's just stupid and it shouldn't be that way. It gives chillies a bad name...

Good to here about your Dad Andrew, but Ive never heard of an overdose of chillies causing anyone any harm?

Cheers

Steve

Its great news your dad has benefitted from your cooking ! However could it be something else that has caused the improvement and you are just attributing it to the chillies? Garlic for a start is supposed to be pretty good for the heart, so it could be that ? There is also the possibility that its the change in his diet and your food is much healthier than what he was used to (using olive oil, cutting out lard etc).. who knows but keep it up whatever it is !

Steve

this is how urban myths start. Cause and effect. Not proven.

What else changed? It is hard to say that eating chillies will have any affect on atherosclerosis, the major cause of the angina syndrome. A better diet may, as well as loosing weight, cutting out smoking, etc. In other words, a life style change. But chillies, I don't see it myself.

Who knows. I'm not a scientist and I don't have any medical qualifications. All I know is that since he started eating spicy foods his angina symptoms went away. He never stopped smoking though, which is a shame...

On a different note, has anyone ever heard of putting dried mint in garam masala? I have a friend who claims that she uses dried mint in her garam masala recipes but I've never heard of this before.

I haven't heard of this, but is sometimes added to curries, just like methi leaves. I can see it working in some curries, but I would add it during cooking of spice masala.

dried mint is an ingredient in tandoori chat masala, but not gm. Gm should really be just cardamom, cassia, cloves and mace/nutmeg.

I add fresh mint to nearly all curries, along with fresh coriander, and fresh dill to fish/prawn dishes.