Chilli Bhutan
- Adam Monk
- Dec 14, 2012
- 2 min read
Dried red chillies for sale
The Bhutanese love to eat chilli, they eat it with almost every meal, but more like a vegetable (actually a fruit) rather than a seasoning. The chilli is actually the main dish. To achieve this they need a lot of chillies, so almost every small farm holding throughout rural Bhutan has at least one field of chillies, some have very big fields of Chillies, and every market will have a large selection from green to red, and from fresh to dried.
click the image to see the chillies
The image on the left shows the Iron Bridge Monastery in Paro province during the chilli harvest. The field in the bottom left is al chilli bushes, and the red spreading down the hill from the monastery are the freshly harvested chillies drying in the sun. Click on the image to see a bigger version.
Not everyone has a big piece of land to dry their chillies on, so what better place to dry your chillies than on the roof of your house… or convent?
Making good use of roof space
This is one of the few Buddhist Nunneries in Bhutan (in Thimpu, the capital) and this young Buddhist Nun has been sent up to the roof to collect the chillies that are dry and ready for storage for the winter. Seems like it was a nice spot in the sun to rest and contemplate for a while… and blow bubbles.
If you would like to visit Bhutan with me next year go to my Bhutan Photo Tour page for details.
Taking a well earned rest
Chillies for sale
Spot the Chillies
