I recently watched an episode of the latest season of Sex Education on Netflix where one of the characters accidentally uses chili crisp oil as a lubricant. Funny as it was, I nearly passed out just imagining it. As someone who grew up in India, a common myth that follows me around is that I love eating spicy food—this couldn’t be further from the truth. When I visit my family, I always remind my aunts to go easy on the chiles because I’d like to live. It’s not that I don’t use chiles in my cooking; I do, but I’m more of a moderate user. I like just enough to feel some heat, but not so much that my ears start ringing and my eyes and nose mimic a broken faucet.
Chiles aren’t one-dimensional either; there are wide, spectacular varieties that come in shades of green, red, yellow, and orange, with various aromas and degrees of heat. Despite treading carefully around the spice, I remain a devoted fan of these spicy berries (yes, botanically, they’re classified as fruits) because they do so much.
Why chiles are hot
Chiles may be synonymous with Indian and other South Asian cuisines, but they originated in Mesoamerica and were introduced to the East by European colonizers. They quickly became a part of these cultures and an essential ingredient in many local cuisines. In Mexican cooking chiles are an integral part of the diet. The word “chili” (often spelled as “chile” in North America) is derived from the American Nahuatl word “chilli.”
While black peppercorns get their heat from a chemical called piperine, chiles owe their heat to a chemical called capsaicin that, according to scientist Josh Tewksbury, evolved as an evolutionary advantage to the plant. Capsaicin or 8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide is a fat-soluble pungent substance, and in mammals, it acts as a chemical irritant and neurotoxin by creating a burning sensation—we’ll get to how it works in a little bit.
Chile plants started to synthesize capsaicin as a way to protect themselves from rodents. One more reason: it also protects the plant from damage in locations where the soil is wet and rich with fungal and insect pathogens. Dr. Tewksbury found that in countries like Bolivia, chile plants that grow in wet climates are hotter. In general, hotter plants showed less damage than less spicy ones, and the number of insect bites on the chile fruit directly correlated with the plants’ heat intensity.
Capsaicin, a spicy player
The highest concentration of capsaicin is located in the placenta of the chile fruit—the soft and fleshy pale area close to the stem and in the seeds. In mammals, including humans, the capsaicin molecule binds a receptor called TRPV1, or transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 ion channel. This binding sends an electrochemical signal that irritates the nerves, which the brain interprets as heat and pain.
The response from the nerve receptors confuses the brain; there’s no actual rise in body temperature, yet your mouth may feel like it’s on fire. You’ll likely start sweating, too; that’s the body’s way of trying to cool you down. Your instinct may be to reach for a glass of ice-cold water to get rid of this chemical irritant. But if you’ve watched any episode of Hot Ones, you’ll know that chugging water is usually an effort that goes in vain, if not adding more fuel to the fire.
Chile plant growers, scientists, and agricultural organizations use various ways to determine the heat level in chiles. In 1912, American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville created the Scoville test to grade the intensity of heat experienced by a person when eating chiles. Seeing as this test is a sensory test, or an organoleptic test, that measures a person’s response to a substance, the results are subjective.
That’s why most Scoville Heat Units (SHU) for chiles are reported in ranges. The fiery hot ghost pepper has a Scoville unit range between 855,000 and 1,041,427, while mild peppers like poblanos are between 1,000 and 1,500 units. The hottest upper limit is defined by pure capsaicin, which has a pungency of about 16 million SHU.
How to make a dish less spicy
What do you do when you accidentally add too much heat to a fiery curry or spicy rigatoni?
First, don’t panic! Our heat-producing substance capsaicin loves to dissolve in fats and bind to the dairy milk protein called casein. Milk and yogurt make this possible. First, the fat in dairy helps extract the capsaicin molecules. Second, the casein protein molecules act like detergents—they attract the capsaicin molecules, subsequently engulfing them and ridding your mouth of this chemical irritant.
You can also stir in dairy like yogurt, sour cream, milk (only if the dish isn’t sour, or it will curdle), buttermilk, or kefir into a dish; the capsaicin will bind with the milk proteins instead of the nerve receptors in your mouth. Another option is to do what many Indian people do—serve the food with a side of plain yogurt, a raita (an Indian condiment made with yogurt), or a glass of chilled salted buttermilk.
Or you can take a rather unconventional route with the help of some oil. Add a cup of oil, bring it to a boil, and let it cool to room temperature. Over time, the fat-soluble capsaicin molecules will move into the oil which you can skim off, and hence reduce some of the heat in your dish. If you’re wary of pouring an entire cup of oil into your soup or stew, reach for some nut butter. Peanut, almond, or cashew butter are all rich in fat and can help dissolve capsaicin and mitigate some of the heat from chiles. If you’re hesitant to add fat, you can also dilute the heat of a curry or stew by adding more water.
Starchy foods like bread and albumin proteins in eggs can also help prevent capsaicin from binding with nerve receptors. Serve chile-loaded food with a starch side, like rice, boiled potatoes, or bread; some recipes might also benefit from adding these ingredients, like chunks of boiled potatoes in a spicy curry. I’ve personally not found sugar to be very useful at reducing the heat from chile, but it is used in the Scoville test to help tasters as well as in recipes like Thai curries to mask the effect of capsaicin.
What to do if you’ve eaten fiery hot chiles and feel like you’ve entered the seventh gate of hell and begin to dance and scream like you’re on fire? Grab that jug of milk, yogurt, or cottage cheese; it will save you. Researchers at the Sensory Evaluation Center at Penn State found that Kool-Aid is also an efficient way to douse the fire from chiles. But cold water is not your friend; it will simply move the hot capsaicin around your mouth and spread the heat.
How to work with hot chiles
Use latex or latex-free gloves when working with extremely hot chiles in the kitchen. Wash your hands with soap and water; the soap will work like casein and remove the capsaicin from your skin. If you’re grinding chiles in a food processor or blender, open the lid carefully and step away so you don’t breathe in the spicy vapor. During high-speed blending, the capsaicin gets temporarily aerosolized and hovers like a cloud over the appliance. Inhaling it can trigger a serious coughing fit.
In the kitchen, chiles like cayenne are used to add heat to dishes, some like paprika and Kashmiri chiles provide a brilliant bright red color that comes from the pigment capsanthin, a type of carotenoid (carotenoids are yellow to red pigments seen in fruits and vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, watermelon, and annatto). Outside the kitchen, capsaicin is used in medical treatments to relieve pain in arthritis, muscle sprains and strains, and skin disorders like shingles. This unique molecule does more than just flavor our meals; its benefits go far and wide, and we have yet to uncover its full potential. But whatever you use it for, keep a glass of milk or Kool-Aid at the ready.
