Chilli in Peru: 7,500 years of uchu
People on the Peruvian coast were eating several kinds of chilli between about 7,500 and 4,000 years ago. Writing in 1609, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega called uchu (chilli) the Andeans' favourite condiment. It was banned during strict fasts, one kind was reserved for the royal family, and an Inca founder was named after it.
Checked October 20, 2026 · How we source facts
Timeline
- c. 7500-4000 BP (Preceramic)
Capsicum seeds from Huaca Prieta and Paredones (Chicama Valley) show several species were eaten, with a later preference for C. baccatum. [1]
- c. 6000 BP
Capsicum starch grains at Real Alto and Loma Alta in neighbouring Ecuador (Perry et al. 2007, as cited). [1]
- Late Preceramic
C. baccatum reaches the Peruvian coast along with four other crops, and C. chinense arrives around the time of pottery (Pickersgill 1969). [2]
- Nasca period
Chillies are the second most depicted plant in Nasca ceramic iconography, often attached to mythical beings (Proulx 2009, as cited). [1]
- 1609
Garcilaso de la Vega publishes the Royal Commentaries in Lisbon, describing uchu, rocot uchu and chinchi uchu. [3]
Customs and words
- Fasting: novices in the Inca coming-of-age ordeal fasted on raw maize and water 'without anything else whatever, neither salt nor uchu'. [4]
- Royal chilli: Garcilaso says one finger-thick chilli 'was considered a nobler kind, and reserved for the use of the royal family'. [4]
- Origin legend: one Inca founding legend names four brothers, among them Ayar Cachi ('salt') and Ayar Uchu ('the condiment... which the Spaniards call pepper'). [3]
- Everyday food: 'They cook no dish without that which they call uchu', and its use 'was forbidden in the fasts of the Indians, to make them more rigorous'. [4]
Questions
What is uchu?
Uchu is the Quechua word for chilli. Garcilaso de la Vega wrote in 1609 that Andeans cooked no dish without it.
How old is chilli in Peru?
Chilli seeds from Huaca Prieta and Paredones on the Peruvian coast date from about 7,500 to 4,000 years ago.
More chilli history
- Chilli in Mexico: where it began, and what the Aztecs did with it
- How chilli reached Europe: Columbus, Spain and Portugal
- Chilli in India: from Portuguese ships to 40% of the world’s dried chillies
- Chilli in Korea: why kimchi wasn’t always red
- Chilli in China: a garden ornament that won Sichuan and Hunan
- Chilli in Thailand: the heat came from pepper first
- Paprika in Hungary: from Turkish pepper to a Nobel Prize
- Chilli in Africa: berbere, melegueta and the Mombasa chilli
- Chilli in the USA: Tabasco, the Scoville test and New Mexico
- Chilli history myths, checked
Sources
- UC Berkeley Archaeobotany Lab Report #74 (Chiou & Hastorf 2012, 'Capsicum spp. at the Preceramic Sites of Huaca Prieta and Paredones'): Preceramic Capsicum seeds 7500-4000 BP; later preference for C. baccatum; Nasca iconography (Proulx 2009); Ecuador starch 6000 BP (Perry et al. 2007)
- American Antiquity 34(1), 1969 (Pickersgill), Cambridge University Press: C. baccatum first cultivated species on the Peruvian coast (Late Preceramic); C. chinense arrives with pottery
- Garcilaso de la Vega, Royal Commentaries of the Yncas, Vol. I (Hakluyt Society, trans. Markham, 1869), pp. 73-74; title page 'Lisbon... 1609': Ayar brothers legend; Cachi = salt, Uchu = chilli condiment; 1609 Lisbon publication
- Garcilaso de la Vega, Royal Commentaries of the Yncas, Vol. II (Hakluyt Society, 1871), pp. 169, 365-366: Fast with neither salt nor uchu; uchu in every dish; banned in fasts; royal variety; rocot uchu and chinchi uchu