Chilli peppers, Bangladesh

The spicy curries of Bangladeshi cuisine start out here in the chilli fields, where workers harvest and sort red chilli peppers by hand. Once picked, the peppers are sun-dried and used whole or crushed to powder. The chillis not only add flavour to foods but help kill bacteria, too. Plus, hot foods help diners cool down: One natural reaction to capsaicin, the active chemical in chillis, is sweating, which can help chill the skin in tropical heat.
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