Sorry folks,
It ain't the acidity that gets you the burn ... if it were, the acid would
have been neutralized or at least diluted by the pH 2+ Hydrochloric acid in
the tum-tum and certainly by the time it finished making its way through the
lengths of colon and connsequently wouldn't burn your tush on the way out.
Capsaicin is oil-based which is why it lasts the entire trip pretty much
intact and is why it's hard to dilute in the mouth.
Here's some fun reading. It has the Scoville chart and various pepper
ratings:
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~gcaselton/chile/scoville.html
By the way, the hot stuff opens the blood vessels which increases
circulation (a very good thing), and also has the added nice side-effect as
Gary mentioned of releasing endorphins from the brain (yee-haa!) which is
why we love it so.
Dana
[bored on a Saturday night]
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-land-speed@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-land-speed@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Albaugh, Neil
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2002 3:46 PM
To: 'gary baker'; BWANA343@aol.com; land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: Mexican food comments ...
Gary;
I think you're right about the pH of peppers. I've found that milk or
refried beans are pretty good at quenching the fire.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: gary baker [mailto:lsr350@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2002 4:10 PM
To: BWANA343@aol.com; land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Mexican food comments ...
> The active ingredient in peppers is Capsaicin (sp?).
Very true Bob it is an acid and that is what burns ,eating anything of an
alkaline nature will quench the fire, thats why at least over here they
serve yoghurts and cucumber and the like with hot chilies, also chilies are
rated from 1 to 10 for heat with 1= capsicum and cayenne= 7 jalapeno = 5 I
believe in Mexico a purple coloured chili lives which =10its been described
as exquisite agony and another interesting fact about chilies is the heat
produced on eating releases endorphines ( similar to morphine ) from your
body which gives you a natural high so encourages the eater to go back to
something which you would nornally avoid ,I drink tobasco straight from the
bottle just love that afterburn on my lips but no keen on the other after
burn at the other end
Gary
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