Print This PagePepper Trivia
Did you know hot peppers are good for you?
- Ounce for ounce, hot peppers have more vitamin C than oranges.
- Recent ongoing research is exploring the use of Capsaicin as a slight anti-inflammatory agent, an anticoagulant, and possible uses for relieving and preventing headaches and migraines.
- Capsaicin is available as an over-the-counter topical application called Zostrix to relieve neuralgia, a pain from the nerves near the surface of your skin, and to temporarily help relieve the pain from osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.
Did you know you can make hot peppers seem less hot?
- Most of the capsaicin, the natural chemical that makes hot peppers hot, is concentrated in the placenta, where the seeds attach in the middle of the pepper. So if you dare your friend to eat a hot pepper you should bite off the very tip to demonstrate it's not that hot, and then pass it to them to try. Their next bite will be right into the middle of the pepper, making it, of course, much hotter for them.
- Milk and capsaicin bind to the same receptors on your tongue. Instead of drinking milk after you eat a hot pepper, drink your milk before you bite into the pepper. The milk will saturate the receptors, leaving fewer places for capsaicin to bind, therefore avoiding some of the heat of the hot pepper.
More Hot Facts
- Christopher Columbus discovered chilies in 1492 on the West Indian island of Hispanola, known today as the Dominican Republic. Prior to his travels, chilies were unknown to the Old World. Source: Peppers, by Jean Andrews, published in 1984
- When chili peppers are fried in oil, capsaicin, the chemical that makes chili peppers hot, starts to break down into vanillin, among other compounds. Vanillin is one of the most pleasing aromas to the senses. Thus you enjoy the smell while you feel the burn. Source: The Healing Power of Peppers, by Dave Dewitt, Melissa Stock, and Kellye Hunter
