Jiahe Three-Flavor Chili

Jiahe Three-Flavor Chili

　　Jiahe chili, celebrated for its unique blend of aroma, spiciness, and sweetness, is widely acclaimed for its distinctive color, shape, flavor, and fragrance. With a long history of cultivation among local communities, its tip is sweet, the body is spicy, and the stem has a fruity aroma, making it a must-have seasoning and coloring ingredient in Hunan and Sichuan cuisine. Packed with various vitamins, it aids in stimulating appetite and is a staple flavoring snack and condiment for home and travel.

　　“Three-Flavor Chili” is another name for Jiahe chili, a traditional and well-known agricultural product. The main body of the chili is intensely spicy, the stem is spicy with a fruity scent, and the tip is sweet, earning its name for its combination of spicy, aromatic, and sweet flavors.

　　The Three-Flavor Chili has long enjoyed a prestigious reputation and dominated the market. According to Volume Seven of the *Jiahe County Annals* from the Republican era: in 1929, Jiahe’s “production of numbing and spicy goods at the West Lake Expo” received high praise. It became a bestseller in Guangdong, Guangxi, the Nanyang Islands, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and other regions, gaining fame both at home and abroad.

　　Locals in Jiahe cultivate the Three-Flavor Chili using superior local varieties. Based on fruit shape, it mainly falls into three types: small goat-horn chili, chicken-heart chili, and large goat-horn chili. The small goat-horn chili has slender fruits resembling goat horns, thin skin, low water content, many seeds inside, glossy appearance, strong spiciness, and is mainly grown in towns such as Guangfa, Lianhe, and Tanping. The chicken-heart chili is shaped like a chicken heart, short and large, with thick flesh, bright red and glossy skin, many seeds, strong spiciness, and is primarily cultivated in Yuanjia, Pan Tou, Tangcun, and Shigao. The large goat-horn chili features elongated horn-like fruits, thick flesh, higher moisture content, fewer seeds, smooth appearance, and a sweet-spicy taste, mainly grown in Shiqiao, Tianxin, Chengguan, and Shigao. The Three-Flavor Chili is rich in nutrients, containing protein, vitamin C, calcium, selenium, carotene, potassium, zinc, dietary fiber, and more. It is warming in nature, good for the stomach, stimulates appetite, and improves digestion. The Qing Dynasty text *Herbal Mirror* recorded that it can also treat external hemorrhoids. Regular consumption of Jiahe Three-Flavor Chili offers nutritional and health benefits.

　　Jiahe’s natural conditions are well-suited for cultivating the Three-Flavor Chili. For a long time, local farmers have maintained the habit of “every household growing chilies, every household eating chilies,” allowing the cultivation of Three-Flavor Chili to reach a considerable scale. In 1939, it reached its historical peak, with a total planting area of 14,057 mu and a yield of 492 tons. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, in 1952, the planting area was 7,419 mu, yielding 230 tons. Later, due to historical constraints, the planting area decreased, hitting a historical low in 1961 with only 1,131 mu planted and a yield of just 85.5 tons. With the deepening of rural reforms, China’s agriculture and rural economy entered a new stage of development. Since 1997, the Jiahe County Party Committee and County People’s Government, following the principles of adapting to market demands, tailoring to local conditions, highlighting unique features, and leveraging strengths, strengthened guidance on agricultural restructuring. They included the development of agricultural product processing as a key component of agricultural restructuring, placing high importance on the development and industrialization of the county’s specialty products. Developing the Three-Flavor Chili was identified as a major industry for adjusting the agricultural economic structure, with a resolve to establish Jiahe as the country’s largest chili production base within 3–5 years. In 1998, 350,000 yuan was invested to support the establishment of the “Hunan Province Jiahe County Three-Flavor Food Co., Ltd.,” which used modern food processing technologies to produce a series of Three-Flavor Chili products. In 1999, through a “company + farmer” model, production and purchase contracts were signed with farmers, establishing a 5,000-mu Three-Flavor Chili production base. That year, the output value reached over 8 million yuan, generating profits of over 300,000 yuan, taxes of over 600,000 yuan, and increasing farmers’ income by over 2 million yuan. In 1999 and 2000, the company’s main product—“Three-Flavor Chopped Chili”—won the Gold Award for High-Quality Agricultural Products at the Chenzhou City Premium Agricultural Products Spring Fair and the Silver Award for Quality Products at the Second Provincial Agricultural Products Expo, respectively, with products selling out quickly.

　　Driven by the company, the production of Three-Flavor Chili quickly recovered and expanded. In 2000, 9,771 mu were planted, yielding 1,239 tons with a per-mu output of 127 kilograms. In 2000, Yang Zhengwu, Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, and Governor Chu Bo visited Jiahe to inspect work, giving full recognition to Jiahe’s development of the premium product Three-Flavor Chili and its plan to build the county into a nationally renowned Three-Flavor Chili production base, while instructing relevant departments to provide strong support. In August 2000, the Jiahe County People’s Government applied to the city and province for the Three-Flavor Chili series food development project under comprehensive agricultural development and diversified operations. In October, the Provincial Comprehensive Agricultural Development Office officially approved the application. After planned expansion and increased production capacity, the Hunan Province Jiahe County Three-Flavor Food Co., Ltd. launched a range of products including Three-Flavor Dried Chili, Three-Flavor Chopped Chili, Three-Flavor Chili Pickled Mustard, Three-Flavor Chili Dog Meat Sausage, and Three-Flavor Chili Xiangjia Fish, greatly advancing the production of Three-Flavor Chili.

　　The future of Jiahe Three-Flavor Chili production is bright and full of promise！