THE HAI LIFE: Silk Road Trip 2-- Seeing Red--Hot Chilies

Our trip on the Silk Road was in the far western China province of Xinjiang. This is known as the Xinjiang Uygar ( said like wee-gar) Autonomous Region. It is the largest region in China but with the smallest population. The Gobi desert resides here as well as the Tien Shan Mountains which lead toward Tibet. The vast basins of this region are rich in deposits of oil, gas and minerals as well as agricultural fields. In recent years the area has seen an invasion of tomatoes, chili pepper, safflower, Chinese Wolfberries (gouqi), and Chinese red dates. This area is particularly suited to these "red crops" due their location 40 degrees north of the equator. This climate has less precipitation, a hot summer and substantial temperature differences between night and day.
The tomato spread from the forests of South America and came to China by sea in the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It was first grown as an ornamental plant. It was not until the early 20th century that the Chinese used it as food. Today, one in every four tomatoes is produced in China and half from here in the Xinjiang province.
Another large crop are the Red Chili Peppers. I took the pictures below while traveling on a bus from Urumqi to Kuytun. What you see are beds of peppers drying out. Just incredible. These beds are each about the size of a football field and some are bigger. The basins are a natural drying yard because of the relative humidity of less than 30%, surface temperatures of 70 degrees C and strong searing winds. You can faintly see the Tien Shan Mtns. in the background which creates this basin. Chilies are a mainstay in regional cooking. Locals prefer dried chilies to fresh ones-- they crush pods, add salt and fry the mixture in vegetable oil to make a condiment eaten with dumplings, buns and noodles. A favorite dish here is fiery chicken, potatoes and chili. Delicious!