Heat Issue

Barbacoa enmoladas at Oaxaca Club, Jacksonville Beach

Homeopathy, a system of alternative medicine, is based on the doctrine that like cures like — if a substance causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people, that same substance could cure similar symptoms in sick people. Perhaps this is a good strategy to adopt during the sizzling summer months ahead in the South. Rather than resist and avoid the heat, embrace it for the transformational element that it is.

Speaking of transformational, a recent study found the oldest evidence of harnessing fire to cook food, dating back to 780,000 years ago. Cooking with fire was a pivotal step for human evolution, as it made it easier for the body to digest and get nutrients, access more energy and thus fuel bigger brains. Since then, engaging with heat, from growing to cooking in some form or another, has played a critical role in most food production.

When we eat, temperature is one of the first sensations we detect. It can even affect how food tastes. The Heat issue explores ways that hot food, both in temperature and spice level, have made an impact on our local culinary choices. Read Jeffrey Spear’s piece about how chefs incorporate different types of chile peppers at area restaurants. Yes, datil peppers make an appearance, and so do guajillo, pasilla, serrano, pequin and chilcosle, among others.

Want to know what it takes to cook up a new variety of hot sauce? C.H. Hooks, co-founder of Sea Witch Pepper Potion, takes you into his kitchen/laboratory for a firsthand view. And while it may seem that the datil is ubiquitous, commercial growers are less so, as Bill Delaney discovers in his story on this local chile pepper. If it feels like our weather is getting warmer every year, you’re not imagining it – take a look at the updated Plant Hardiness Zone Map to see how climate change may affect what you can grow in your garden.

Read about some hot neighborhoods to explore, more evidence that our local food scene is cooking on all four burners. And if all this talk about rising temperatures and spice level is making you sweat, we have some suggestions on cool places to beat the heat and ways to stay out of the kitchen when it comes to getting dinner on the table.

We hope this issue will ignite your interest in Northeast Florida’s sizzling food community during the languid days of summer. We love hearing feedback from you, so let us know how you are embracing the heat. Be sure to tag us on social media @edibleneflorida.

Lauren Titus, Editor

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STORIES & RECIPES FROM THE HEAT ISSUE