Today's post isn't a recipe, but rather a crash course on what makes chili peppers' spiciness range from a slight tingle to "rush for the milk".
I first learned about peppers at a friends birthday party. We were all loafing around his house, and as I walked through the kitchen, I noticed this tiny pepper bush which contained a whole bunch of miniature chili's ranging in size from my pinky fingernail to the size of a quarter. Naturally, I asked the host (the birthday boy), what type of chilies those were, and he replied that he was pretty sure they were fake or harmless. At this point a long discussion with a group of people went into deciding if they were real or fake. Having all the confidence of youth, I boldly announced I would settle this matter once and for all, grabbing the reddest pepper and popping it in my mouth. I chewed for about 10 seconds until I hit a wave of unbelievable spiciness. This thing was hot, I mean really HOT! Sweat beads broke out across my forehead as I rushed for the fridge, grabbing their one gallon jug of milk, and promptly drinking almost half of it. It didn't help much, and it took almost an hour for the heat to dissipate. More happened, but i'll end the story there.
Tabasco peppers - The party culprit
After the pepper incident, I did a lot of research on chili's, and upon eating a spicy dish a few days later, found out my spice tolerance had risen drastically. I'll share some helpful tips when it comes to chili's, but first some background.
Other foods like wasabi and horseradish are also spicy, but chilies lend their spiciness to the chemical Capsaicin. Capsaicin, actually a group a similar organic compounds, is an alcohol soluble compound (remember this) that registers as pain when it comes into contact with mucous membranes (mouth, nasal passage, esophageal lining, etc). This pain is due to the fact that capsaicin is interpreted by nerve cells as heat.
Sweet bell peppers, completely harmless...
I won't give you the history, but the Scoville scale was developed as a way to measure the spiciness of chili peppers back in the early 1900's, and is still in use today. The Sweet bell peppers above rate a 0 on the Scoville heat scale, Jalapenos range from 2,500 to 9,000, and pure capsaicin is 15,000,000 to 16,000,000. A great website with the history and list can be found here, Scoville Heat Scale, but here are the most common peppers.
Sweet bell peppers - 0
Jalapeno - 2,500 - 9000
Chipotle - 5,000 - 8,000
Hot Wax - 5,000 - 9,000
Tabasco - 30,000 - 50,000
Cayenne - 30,000 - 50,000
Thai - 50,000 - 100,000
Orange Habanero - 150,000- 325,000
Naga Jolokia (Ghost Pepper) - 800,000 - 1,041,000
Pepper Spray - 2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Pure Capsaicin - 15,000,000 - 16,000,000
As you can see, many of the peppers most people consider hot, are relatively mild when compared to the Ghost pepper (one of the hottest peppers in the world), which can actually cause damage to the mouth and esophagus.
NOT for seasoning food
Time for some pepper tips/tricks. Capsaicin, as mentioned earlier, is alcohol soluble and likes to bind to fat, so If you find yourself in a precarious pepper predicament, don't reach for the water, or even the milk. Water will spread the capsaicin around, and milk works (skim doesn't) but not that well (in my experience). To relieve the heat, swish around a shot of hard liquor, like vodka, and then spit out. I've tried this out and it works surprisingly well.
When preparing chilies for your meals, wear gloves, as capsaicin will linger on your hands, not fun later if you have contact lenses.
To lessen the heat of a chili, remove the seed pod and ribbing of the pepper, as this is where the highest concentrations of capsaicin lie in the chili. To spread out the heat of chili more, mince instead of dicing it, causing the capsaicin to be more evenly infused into your dish.
The ribbing and seed pod here are fairly connected, it's the lighter green part of the chili.
To further lessen the heat of a chili, let it ripen. Much against popular conception, the greener the chili pepper is, the hotter it is. The dark red chilies are actually less potent than their unripened brethren. And finally, after chili preparation, always wash down your cutting board! You don't want your hot stir fry to contaminate and ruin your next meal.
And that's all I have for you today! If I learn anything new, I'll make sure revise this article.
Do you have any chili pepper tips/tricks? If so, I want to know, so please post in the comments!
Stefan
* I take no responsibility for anything that happens as a result of you reading this article. This articles sole purpose is to educate and advise on proper chili preparation.
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