We know people who show off their by chomping on hot, raw chilis. Not us. We'd be happy just to have a higher tolerance. Then maybe we could appreciate the subtle flavors described by Rick Bayless in Culinary Artistry. Of dried chili flavors he says, "Because of the nature of the drying process and what it intensifies, a certain kind of fruitiness is drawn out, this dried-fruit fruitiness. Than that's balanced against a lot of other flavors that range from bitter, like unsweetened chocolate or an almost tobacco-like bitterness, to a real fruitiness like the kind kind you'd get in a dried tomato."

Photos by Melissa Schneider

machismo