Chili heat versus pepper heat
Spicy heat isn't one of the five tastes. Capsaicin from chilies activates TRPV1, a nerve receptor that also fires above about 43°C (109°F). Your brain gets a burn signal with no burn. Black pepper's piperine feels sharper and quicker.
Water spreads capsaicin around
Capsaicin dissolves in fat and alcohol, barely in water. So a gulp of water spreads the burn around instead of removing it. Milk helps because it has fat and casein, a protein that binds capsaicin. Yogurt and coconut milk work too.
Test yourself
Questions from the interactive lesson, with the answer and the why.
Which compound is mainly responsible for the heat of chili peppers?
Capsaicin. It activates the TRPV1 heat receptor, so it feels like a burn.
True or false: Most of a chili's heat is in its seeds.
False. Most of a chili's capsaicin sits in the white pith that holds the seeds, not in the seeds themselves.
What went wrong? You bite into a hot ghost-pepper salsa and gulp a glass of ice water. The burn keeps going.
Water can't dissolve capsaicin, so it just spreads it. Milk or yogurt, with fat and casein, would work better.
Fill the blank: Capsaicin dissolves in fat and alcohol, but barely in ___.
Capsaicin dissolves in fat and alcohol, but barely in water. Capsaicin barely dissolves in water, which is why water does little.
True or false: The heat of black pepper comes from piperine, a different compound from the capsaicin in chilies.
True. Black pepper heat comes from piperine, a different compound from capsaicin.
A chili came out too hot. Which fix does the most beyond simply diluting it?
Cream, coconut milk or yogurt stirred in. Fat dissolves some capsaicin and casein binds it.