BY RACHEL PASCHE
August 11, 2021
Source: Mashed
Photo Source: Unsplash,
Do you like it hot? Like really, really hot? Every family has one, that person who doesn't think something is hot enough until their lips start changing color and they break out in a sweat. Chili peppers aren't just about heat, though. If used correctly, they're about adding a whole different flavor to some of your favorite foods.
There's a difference, though, between peppers that are hot and peppers that are dangerous. While there are the peppers that will make your curry something special, there are also peppers that can be weaponized — that's taking hotness to a whole new level. Those dangerously fiery peppers are the peppers we're talking about here. Here's the untold truth of the world's hottest peppers.
Interpreting the Scoville scale
It's impossible to talk about hot peppers without talking about the Scoville scale — the way the hotness of peppers is rated. It was created in 1912 by Wilbur Scoville (via Chilli World), who was on the hunt for a reliable way of measuring heat. Scoville ended up taking a portion of pepper extract and diluting it in sugar water. The amount of dilution needed before the pepper is undetectable is the Scoville rating.
So, let's take a jalapeno. That has a Scoville rating of between 2500 and 8000, meaning it has to be diluted that many times before the heat of the pepper is completely neutralized by the solution. For more perspective, a meal that's considered restaurant-quality spicy generally rates between 500 and 1000, while pure capsaicin is at the very high end of the scale with a rating of 15 to 16 million. Today, there's a more scientific way of determining Scoville ratings, and according to Pepper Seeds, it's done by using chromatography to measure the amount of pure capsaicin in a pepper.
Why we interpret hot peppers as hot
The other thing we need to talk about is what's going on at our side of the equation, and BBC took a look at just why we taste things as being hot and spicy. Capsaicin activates receptors in your tongue, the same ones kick-started by pain. Capsaicin is something of an anomaly, as it's one of the few activators that isn't actually doing any damage, but still sets off receptors.
Studies have found your tongue catches on to this little trick, and gradually, receptors recognize that burning sensation doesn't actually pose a threat. They'll stop reacting, and that's called capsaicin desensitization. It also interacts weirdly with ethanol, which changes the tolerance threshold for capsaicin sensitivity. Try it — have a jalapeno with a warm beer.
It will be spicier than if you were drinking it with an ice cold beer. And finally, capsaicin reaction to these non-taste bud receptors is the reason you absolutely don't want to rub your eyes after you've been slicing peppers — all parts of your body will let you know capsaicin is present.
The entire industry was started by one man
Hot peppers have always been around, but it turns out there's one man you can thank for essentially creating the entire industry. That's Dr. Fabian Garcia, a horticulturist from New Mexico State University's very first graduating class, the class of 1894. In addition to planting the first trees of New Mexico's pecan industry, he standardized hot pepper breeds, creating the genetic basis of today's peppers.
It's no coincidence that his alma mater is now the site of the Chile Pepper Institute, and according to director Dr. Paul Bosland (via Desert Exposure), Garcia released his landmark pepper, the New Mexico No. 9, in 1921. Before that pepper, hot peppers were little more than a spice — now they're a multi-million dollar industry.
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