In Yucatan, it's fascinating that they grow the habanero chili, but it is used only in their salsa. The rest of the foods are mild and you add as much salsa as you want. But heat is what excites most chili pepper fans. The ingredient has such a following that it has its own magazine, Chile Pepper. It's published six times a year and has a circulation of 100,000.
Peppers are a very experiential ingredient.
It's not something you just taste, it's something you live through, if it is done right. It adds a sense of adventure to food. Inside the full-color publication are recipes and stories about the different ways people use chili peppers. There are also page upon page of ads for pepper sauces. Many of the sauces, Gibson said, taste fantastic but don't sell because of the overwhelming number of sauces on the market.