Not that I have any rythym (or spelling) ability – but I thought some hot sauce lovers out there would like to know that there is a line dance entitled: Louisiana Hot Sauce.

HEEL STRUTS, HEEL DROPS
1& Left heel forward; drop left toe lifting left heel & bending left knee
2& Drop left heel to the floor twice shifting weight to left foot
3& Right heel forward; drop right to lifting right heel & bending right knee
4& Drop right heel to the floor twice shifting weight to right foot

CROSS, UNWIND 1/2 TURN RIGHT, HEEL TWISTS, CLAP
5 Cross left over right, placing ball of left foot on floor
6 Unwind by turning right 1/2 and shifting weight to left foot with feet part
7&8 With weight on balls of both feet twist heels right, left, right
& Clap hands

CAJUN JOGS FORWARD & CLAP
1&2 With weight mainly on balls of feet, step forward left, right, left
& Lift right knee & hop on left foot clapping hands
3&4 With weight mainly on balls of feet step forward right, left, right
& Lift left knee and hop on right foot clapping hands

BACK SKIPS & FORWARD STOMP, HOLD
5 Step back left crossing slightly behind right
& Hop on left foot lifting right knee
6 Step right back crossing slightly behind left
& Rock back on ball of left foot
7 Stomp right to right forward diagonal bending right knee with weight over right foot
/(Optional: Arms out to sides, palms down on count 7)
8 Hold

CROSS ROCKS & PADDLE TURN-LEFT
1 Cross left in front of right rocking onto left bending both knees
& Replace weight back to right straightening both legs
2 Small step left to left side
3 Cross right in front of left rocking onto right bending both knees
& Replace weight back to left straightening both legs
4 Small step right to right side
5 Cross left in front of right rocking onto left bending both knees

& Replace weight back to right straightening both legs
6 Small step left to left side turning /14 left starting a left paddle turn
& Continuing left paddle turn with right foot slightly behind left, step on ball of right foot
7 Replace weight to left foot continuing left turn
& Left paddle turn with right foot slightly behind left, step on ball of right foot
8 Replace weight to left foot completing paddle turn
/(You are now facing the same wall you were when you did the cross rocks)

CROSS ROCKS & PADDLE TURN-RIGHT
1 Cross right in front of left rocking onto right bending both knees
& Replace weight back to left straightening both legs
2 Small step right to right side
3 Cross left in front of right rocking onto left bending both knees
& Replace weight back to right straightening both legs
4 Small step left to left side
5 Cross right in front of left rocking onto right bending both knees
& Replace weight back to left straightening both legs
6 Small step right to right side turning /14 right starting a right paddle turn
& Continuing right paddle turn with right foot slightly behind left, step on ball of left foot
7 Replace weight to right foot continuing right turn
& Right paddle turn with left foot slightly behind right, step on ball of left foot
8 Replace weight to right foot completing paddle turn
/(You are now facing the same wall you were when you did the cross rocks)

REPEAT

THEY CAN BE RED, green, orange or almost the colour of chocolate. They can be pointy, round, small, club-like, long, thin, globular, tapered, or shaped like a granny’s bonnet. Their skin may be shiny, smooth or wrinkled and their walls may be thick or thin. Not all chillies are hot but don’t be deceived – with only a few exceptions, most of the several hundred varieties of these enchanting little pods have some degree of pungency for the palate. Only a few are as mild as their sweet cousins the capsicums. The colour of chillies is no guide to the intensity of their flavour. Nor is the size. Yet these fiery little vegetables are utterly delicious and an essential part of the cuisine of many parts of the world. Some people even believe they are mildly addictive – in a nice and harmless way. It seems that when we eat hot chillies, the body produces endorphins – the same chemicals produced during a runner’s high. Chillies belong to the same family as tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant. They came originally from the West Indies but spread like wildfire to India and Asia and then to North Africa and Spain. In the United States, chilli gets only one ‘L’ (chili) and is often called a hot pepper. All chillies begin life green and turn yellow or red as they ripen. There is no rule that green or red have more heat so check the label for clues as to the pungency of the ones you have chosen. Fresh Chillies are high in Vitamin C — twice the amount found in citrus fruits. When dried the Vitamin A content increases as much as one hundred fold. Hot chillies e.g. ‘Habanero’ contain 357% more Vitamin C than an orange. Red chillies are a good source of beta carotene. The bite in chilli is called Capsaicin. Most of the capsaicin is contained in the seeds and the membrane which when removed makes the chilli milder. The burning feeling that you are left with on your tongue is caused by the relief of Capsaicin. This causes messages to be sent to your brain to release endorphins which are your body’s natural pain killer. The endorphins then give you the feeling of relief and pleasure. The release of endorphins lowers the blood pressure, a major indicator in heart disease, and has even been implicated in the fight against cancer. Chilli is mildly antibacterial and is an excellent gargle for sore throats and laryngitis. In Victorian England, chilli peppers were prized for their warming properties in treating arthritis, chills, rheumatism, sprains and depression. Chillies have been used to repel garden pests, to stop barnacles on boats, as an aphrodisiac and as a cure for sore throats and varicose ulcers. Chilli antidotes include any dairy product, milk, ice cream, yogurt, chocolate, sugar, starchy foods like bread. CHILLIES CONTAIN CAPSAICINS. These are peppery compounds that can damage the eyes. Chillies produce capsaicins to avert insects attacking them while they’re ripening on their bushes. It’s amazing how capsaicins get around, so always prepare chillies wearing disposable gloves and thoroughly wash all knives, cutting boards and anything else that comes in contact with a cut chilli. Above all, make sure you never rub your eyes if you’ve been preparing any kind of chilli and do not allow chilli to come in contact with a cut or graze as it can burn the skin. Most of their heat is in the seeds and the membrane. If it’s your first try, or you don’t like too much heat, discard these. The seeds are particularly damaging to the eyes, so discard them carefully if you’re not eating them. CHILLIES ARE RICH IN VITAMIN C, niacin (one of the B vitamins) and beta carotene. At least they would be, if you could eat enough of them! 100g of red chillies contains a week’s supply of vitamin C but a single chilli divided in a dinner for 2, 3 or 4 makes no real nutritional contribution. However, chillies add loads of flavour, have virtually no fat or sodium and will never make you fat. Indeed, one study reported that those eating chilli increased their metabolic rate and lost weight! I wouldn’t recommend it as a method but at least it’s good to know that something that tastes so good has nothing nutritionally undesirable. Further research is needed, but the capsaicin in chillies makes your nose run because it shrinks the mucous membranes. This also gives relief if you think you are coming down with a cold.

PREPARATION & USAGE TIPS: Cut, slit lengthways and discard seeds. For extra hot dishes add seeds. Do not touch or rub eyes while preparing chillies.

STORAGE AND HANDLING TIPS: Store in paper bag in a cool dark place for approximately 4 days. Place in a glass jar in refrigerator for storage life of 3 weeks.

Adelaide may be the capital of South Australia, but its Mediterranean climate lends itself to a Mediterranean cuisine. Most gardens can boast a good crop of tomatoes, grape vines prosper, while olives do so well that they have gone feral, invading the Adelaide Hills as a serious environmental pest. With a touch of global warming, they might yet be replaced by feral chillies.

Chillies are the fruit of various Capsicum species, a diverse group which produces not only capsicums, which are eaten raw or cooked, but spices such as chilli, prepared by drying the fruit and grinding it to a powder. These spices provide the characteristic hotness of Asian and South American foods.

Chillies originated in South America. While they now grow worldwide, the warmer sub-tropical regions produce the hottest chillies. Habanero is the hottest; three times more powerful than Thai chillies, and far more so than the green and red capsicums that decorate many salads.

The main quality characteristics of chillies are the colour and heat level, or pungency, but there is much more to the fruit than just their eye-watering power. Dr Andreas Klieber is studying chillies at Adelaide University’s Waite Campus. His research involves determining the best conditions for growing and harvesting chillies, preparing them for spice manufacture and preventing the resultant spice from spoiling.

Chillies have traditionally been used in warm countries to cover the taste of spoiled food and also to prevent it from going bad as quickly. It is surprising, then, to discover that chilli powder is itself susceptible to mould that can produce aflatoxin, thought to be a potent carcinogen.

Currently virtually all chilli spice is imported into Australia, but a survey of 90 products showed extensive contamination with aflatoxins. “Overall only 9% of samples complied with Australian standards, with another 12% marginal,” said Dr Klieber. “This survey shows that considerable improvements need to be made to produce a safe food for consumers,” he said. “Importers need to insist on better quality assurance and testing by producers, but a significant opportunity exists for local producers to develop a safe product that will replace imported products of unknown safety,” said Dr Klieber.

“We set out to examine the whole chilli spice production system to maximise yields and quality of the final product,” said Dr Klieber. “The need for this arose from the lack of detailed information for Australian conditions, as most previous work had been carried out overseas, and recommendations were not always clear.”

Growing chillies under cool conditions, reduces their hotness. The final colour is influenced by the stage of ripeness at which the fruit is harvested, and the processing and storage of the final spice powder.

In Australia, from Mediterranean South Australia to sub-tropical Queensland, the best fruit grows from around September to March. Cooler months or climates produce slower growth rates of plants and fruit, in which the heat levels are also dramatically reduced.

The perceived hotness of chillies occurs because the nervous receptors in the mouth that send pain signals when burnt are also stimulated by the chemicals termed capsaicins that are found in chillies. “When you eat a lot of chillies, some nerve cells in the mouth die, ” said Dr Klieber. “You then need more spice to get the same effect, which explains why some people can tolerate more and more chilli in their food,” he said.

“Researchers are now looking at capsaicins to control chronic pain by using the chemicals to overstimulate and deaden nerve cells,” said Dr Klieber.

Chilli-based cuisine often includes other foods, such as yoghurt, which help to overcome the burning sensation of hot chillies, and cool the mouth. It is a perception that Dr Klieber likes to test on school students when they visit the Waite Institute.

“We had a school visit and I got the students to taste chillies, including Habaneros, and then see whether yoghurt is good for cooling the mouth,” said Dr Klieber. “I cut one chilli into very small pieces and kept one half of the chilli to show what it looked like. One student wasn’t listening and promptly ate this half Habanero,” said Dr Klieber. “It took him half a litre of yoghurt to recover, but I think he will now listen to what people say in class.”

The research has been published as a 20-page RIRDC report which details the best methods for growing, harvesting and processing chillies in Australia, how to store chilli products and assess their quality, and make chilli spice production competitive. The report can be found at:

http://www.rirdc.gov.au/reports/AFO/00-33.pdf

Photos available at: www.adelaide.edu.au/PR/media_photos/

If you want zip and heat in your favorite entr�e, add a chile pepper. Peppers come in a variety of shapes and colors and range in taste from sweet and mild to hot.

Bell peppers are often picked when green and immature. Allowed to ripen to red, yellow, orange, brown, or purple, they are sweeter. Hot peppers are often harvested at maturity, usually when red.

At the market, choose high-quality peppers that are fresh-looking, firm, thick-fleshed, and free of disease and insect damage. Avoid bruised or soft peppers.

By varying the type, quantity, and part of the pepper you use, you can adjust the heat of a dish. The main source of pungency in peppers is capsaicin, which is odorless and tasteless but produces a burning sensation on contact. Capsaicins are found in the inner wall of the fruit (the white “ribs” and white lining) and are concentrated at the stem end of the pepper. The seeds may also contain heat. You can reduce heat by removing the seeds and ribs.

A pepper’s heat is measured in Scoville heat units with the use of a systematic dilution test developed by Wilbur Scoville in 1912. The scale ranges from 0 for the mild, sweet bell pepper to 300,000 for the fiery hot habanero pepper. Water stress on pepper plants can increase pungency, whereas cooler temperatures can decrease the heat of a pepper.

If you eat too much of a hot pepper or can’t bear the heat, don’t drink water. Because capsaicins are oils, they do not mix well with water, which will spread the heat around your mouth. Instead, drink milk or eat pasta, bread, or potatoes. These oil-absorbing foods will help relieve the burning sensation.

Wash peppers before peeling or chopping them. Avoid direct contact with hot peppers, because the volatile oils they contain can cause skin irritation or burns. Wear rubber gloves while handling them, and wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching your face. The seeds from hot peppers are often removed.

Most all peppers are good sources of vitamins A and C. A mature pepper has a higher concentration of vitamins. Both sweet and hot peppers are delicious raw, grilled, or added to cooked recipes. One type of pepper may be substituted for another in salsa recipes, but, when canning, do not vary the total amount of peppers called for in a recipe.

For more information on peppers — growing, harvesting, common problems, and recipes — visit the University of Illinois Extension’s “Watch Your Garden Grow” Web site, www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/veggies/peppers1.html.

Chilly days call for warming up with a steaming bowl of hot chili. And we can thank the peppers known botanically as Capsicum for that warm sensation.

Although they are native to Central and South America, Capsicums traveled around the world before they were introduced to North American culture. Explorers brought Capsicums to Europe in the 1500s. The Spanish named it “pimiento” after the black pepper called “pimienta,” which is the unrelated Piper nigrum. As the Capsicum pepper traveled to other European countries, it acquired other names such as the Hungarian “paprika” and the British “Ginnie pepper.” Capsicums quickly became popular in the Orient and Africa and were introduced to North America by colonists. Today, many types of hot peppers are cultivated throughout the world, including jalapeno, cayenne, Tabasco and chili.

The hotness of peppers is actually chemically different from their flavor. The source of their fiery sensation is a group of naturally occurring chemicals called “capsaicins.” The effects of the capsaicins have been described as delivering rapid bites to the back of the palate or a slow burn on the tongue and mid palate. Different combinations of the individual capsaicins produce varying degrees of hotness, resulting in the various pepper strains.

Capsaicin content is dependent on many factors, including plant genetics, climate, geographic location and stage of ripeness. Warm weather regions generally produce hotter peppers than cooler areas. Warm nights, in particular, seem to be responsible for the higher capsaicin content. Capsaicin production in peppers begins at about one month and then increases with maturity. Peppers generally begin to produce capsaicin at about a month and then increase with maturity.

Flavor in peppers is thought to be associated with the pigments that give the fruit its color. Generally, the deeper the color, the stronger the flavor. Most peppers begin their development in some shade of green and then change color to red, orange, yellow or purple as they ripen.

Hot peppers are quite versatile in that they can be used fresh, dried or frozen. The fruits are a good source of vitamins and generally are even more nutritious than bell peppers. In fact, green hot peppers have more Vitamin C per weight than citrus fruit, and red hot peppers have more Vitamin A than carrots. Hot peppers are low in calories, too; that is, if we could just leave out all that other stuff like cheese, nacho chips and sour cream!

Chillies have been used in cookery for thousands of years, initially by Native and Mesoamericans, then later in the Old World: prior to this mustard (Brassica nigra), horseradish (Radicula armoracia) and pepper (Piper nigrum) were used to give food a kick. These don’t contain capsaicin: the chemicals that give you the kick in these are quite different. In mustard and horseradish, two glycosides called myristin and sinigrin are present: when these are hydrolysed by the action of enzymes, they release allyl isothiocyanate. Onions and garlic (Allium spp.) release the similarly pungent allyl thiosulfinate when bruised. The alkaloid piperine is responsible for the heat of conventional pepper. All these compounds are relatively water soluble and volatile, which is why a glass of water and some deep breathing will fix most of the pain of OD-ing on these.

Chillies are different, because the active principle is very water insoluble. The main effect of chillies is the burning sensation you’ll all be very familiar with. Capsaicin stimulates receptors on the tongue (and elsewhere, as anyone who’s OD-ed on chillies and spent the next day on the toilet with a ring-stinger will know) to release calcium ions, which trigger pain signals to the brain along the trigeminal nerve. People who eat a lot of chillies gradually build up a tolerance to their effects, which is why an ancho will blow the head off someone who’s never eaten chillies before, whereas a seasoned addict will be able to eat jalapeños like they were canapes. A second side effect of the stimulation of pain receptors is the release of endorphins, which are peptides (tiny proteins) in the brain, which stimulate the same pain-killing receptors that heroin and morphine bind to. Hence the rush that many chilli stuffers get, which is similar to the runners’ high that people who work-out a lot get. They make me feel a bit light headed and floaty, which is very pleasant.

The medical uses of capsaicins and chillies are quite varied. They have a warming effect on the skin if added topically, which is useful for aching joints, and related to this is their circulatory stimulatory effect: the flushing and sweating you get if you overdo them. Intestinal parasites don’t like them any more than you ought to, so they have been used in herbal medicine to purge parasitic worms. Because they increase your pain threshold (by increasing the threshold stimulation nerves need before they start firing), they have also been used experimentally in the treatment of neuralgia. They also seem to help treat mouth ulcers. And they contain more vitamin C than citrus fruits.

A not very medical use of capsaicin has been in pepper sprays, which cause extreme pain when sprayed on mucous membranes, as anyone who has tried taking out contact lenses or having a w*nk after preparing chillies without first washing their hands very thoroughly in detergent will testify. Capsaicin is widely used as a mammal repellent: both in bird seed (squirrels don’t like it), and in rubbish bin repellents to stop the local cats pulling fish heads out of your bin bags and all over your lawn. Another interesting application is as a marine antifoulant: the idea being that ships whose hulls are painted with chilli will be too ‘hot’ for barnacles to attach to.

Information and uses for capsaicinoids (Hot Peppers)!!
How hot is that chili pepper? Until recently, the answer has been totally subjective—one person’s hot sauce might be another person’s mild. Hot sauce manufacturers require more reliable “heat” levels for their products. They need a measurement process that is more objective. The traditional method for determining heat levels was to use a panel of professional tasters and their tongues. Hot sauces are diluted with sweetened water until the hotness cannot be tasted. Generally, the more dilution needed, the higher the spice, and thus the higher the heat level. This level is then expressed in the Scoville Organoleptic Scale, first devised by pharmacist Wilbur Scoville in 1912, from which the world’s peppers are rated. Peppers’ heat levels vary widely from zero units for bell peppers to a mouth-searing 300,000 Scoville heat units for habaneros.

Obviously, the taste panel test is imprecise, time-consuming, subjective, and very costly. A more reliable test, one with repeatable results, was needed for manufacturers. HPLC is that very method.

What makes them hot!!!
What causes the “heat” in peppers? All hot peppers belonging to the genus capsicum, which includes red peppers, tabascos, habaneros, and paprika, contain capsaicinoids that produce a burning sensation in the mouth by acting directly on the pain receptors in the mouth and throat. At higher levels, they cause the eyes to water and the nose to run, and they often induce perspiration. There are five common naturally occurring capsaicinoids. The primary capsaicinoid, capsaicin, is so hot (rated at 16 million Scoville units) that a single drop diluted in 100,000 drops of water will produce a blistering of the tongue. Capsaicin is 70 times hotter than piperine, the spicy principal in black pepper, and 1000 times stronger than zingerone, the active ingredient of ginger. It is barely soluble in water but is very soluble in oils or alcohols.

The second most common capsaicinoid, is just as hot. Together, these two comprise 80–90% of the total capsaicinoids found in peppers. Others are nordihydrocapsaicin (NDC), homocapsaicin (HC), and homodihydrocapsaicin (HDC), with Scoville ratings ranging from 6.9 million to 9.3 million units.
Capsaicinoids are found primarily in the pepper’s placenta, the white “ribs” that run down the middle and along the sides of a pepper. Because the seeds are in close contact with the ribs, they are also often hot. Caution should be exercised in handling some of the more fiery peppers as their juice can burn the skin and damage the eyes. Because capsaicins are not water-soluble, drinking milk (with milk fat and proteins) rather than water is a more effective way to quench the fire caused by hot peppers.

Measuring the HEAT!!!
Because common capsaicinoids differ by either the carbon chain length or the presence of a double bond, they can be readily separated and their relative “burning sensations” measured. The overall heat level of the hot sauce or the pepper extract is then calculated by the summation of each contributing component (derived by multiplying the concentration of each capsaicinoid with its respective Scoville rating).

Other Uses of Capsaicin
Are hot peppers bad for you? Contrary to the common belief that spicy foods cause ulcers, studies have found no increased incidence of stomach ulcers in countries of high pepper consumption such as Brazil or Thailand. Because they interact with pain receptors and desensitize them through repeated contact, capsaicins are used in over-the-counter dermatological ointments (0.025%) for the relief of itchy skin, psoriasis, shingles, muscle aches, or pain from osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. New salves for AIDS patients to alleviate leg pain are in development. Capsaicin also has a rich history in alternative medicine. Reported benefits include antimicrobial, anticoagulant, or anti-inflammatory properties and the ability to promote circulation or to relieve cold symptoms by clearing the sinus. Capsaicins are even used in the pest control industry to ward off insects such as ground crawling ones like ants and beetles. Studies are under way to investigate whether capsaicin can increase the metabolism of body fat by raising metabolic rate and body temperature. Capsaicin is also the active ingredient in pepper spray, an effective crime fighter, though its use is regulated or banned in many areas. Additional novel applications include its use as a rodent repellent (especially potent for pesky squirrels near bird feeders) and for the prevention of dog fights or swine cannibalism. For genuine “chiliheads”, a capsaicin-based toothpaste is available to “burn” away cavities.

The Future For Heat Units
So what’s in the future for “heat” testing? No doubt Scoville units are easier to handle than a panel of tasters; and it never suffers from taste fatigue. Perhaps there should be the use of Scoville units in every restaurant serving serious spicy cuisine—imagine menus posting guaranteed Scoville ratings instead of untrustworthy numbers of red pepper icons. Perhaps new pepper test strips, similar to pH papers, should be offered for discriminating customers who wish to double-check their meals. Maybe and maybe not…we shall see how the world’s taste evolves in the new millennium.

The hot sensation will (start to) go away on its own in 10 to 30
minutes, depending on your unique individualness. It takes about 3
months of daily chile eating to build up a decent tolerance to the
capsaicins <= the hot of chiles. (Let your tolerance lapse and even
mild hot sauce will be “strike” you as mildly hot.)

Capsaicins are soluble in alcohol and lipids (oils or fats), but not
water. So booze is sort of ok for pain relief, but milk, cheese
and cream have the requisite lipids AND also, their casein protein is
attracted to the same pain receptors as the capsaicins. So after
the capsaicin is lifted off the pain receptors by dissolving into the
lipids, the casein blocks some of the pain receptor sites so the
dissolved capsaicins cannot re-attack. (I prefer vanilla Haagen-Dazs.)

Capsaicins, present in most hot sauces and salsas, are responsible for the
“hot” sensation in many spicy foods. At high doses, capsaicins cause
significant discomfort upon contact with the sensitive tissues of the
mouth and throat of mammals. By applying a capsaicin containing paste to
the outside of maple tree sap collection tubing, operators hope to
minimize rodent (primarily red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) gnawing
damage to the tubing. However, some operators and sap processors have
expressed concern regarding the potential migration of capsaicins through
the tubing and into the tree sap, leading to contaminated maple syrup. To
address these concerns, we filled a variety of new and used sap collection
tubing with maple sap, plugged the ends, and coated the tubing with a
commercially available capsaicin-based rodent repellent paste. Following
storage, the contents of the tubes were carefully removed and subjected to
a solid-phase extraction clean-up process. Capsaicins in the sap were then
quantified by high performance liquid chromatography/fluorescence
detection. Results indicate that polyethylene tubing was more resistant to
capsaicins migration than was polyvinyl tubing. While capsaicins were
detected in the sap, the predicted levels in syrup would be below the
human taste threshold.
DESCRIPTORS: capsaicin-; contaminants-; contamination-; flavour-compounds; maple-syrup;
pest-control; plant-pests; plant-products; polyethylene-; rodent-control;
rodent-repellents; sap-; translocation-

Hot peppers contain a group of chemical substances called capsaicins which
provide the pungency or “heat” that burns your mouth. The degree of
pungency depends on a number of factors
– variety of pepper (Habenero is acknowledged to be the hottest)
– degree of maturity (more mature peppers of the same variety are
hotter)
– growing conditions (lots of sunlight and high temperatures result in
hotter peppers)
– the portion of the pepper that you are eating (the inner layer of the
pepper pod is hotter than the outer flesh which usually provides
the flavors).

There is also a difference in how the pepper affects the person eating it,
depending on which particular capsaicin(s) is in the type of pepper being
eaten. Responses can be immediate, delayed or prolonged and affect the
lips, middle of the tongue, the throat, the back of the mouth. The reason
for this variation is because of the differences in the capsaicins; because
of their structure, they hook on to different areas of the oral cavity and
they react to the nerves in your mouth differently.

What is best to “cool” the pungent sensation in your mouth? Water gives
immediate, but very brief, relief when it flushes away the free capsaicins
but leaves those that are hooked on to your taste/nerve receptors. But then
the hot sensation can actually feel more intense because the water rinses
away the other foodstuffs that had been diluting the effects of the
capsaicins. Starch foods, such as breads, mechanically remove some of the
capsaicins so they can help to reduce the pungency. But if you stop to
think about some very pungently hot ethnic dishes, you will notice that
most are served with sour cream or yogurt or other dairy product.
Traditionally, a few bites of the spicy hot food would be followed by a bit
of the cleansing dairy product. That way, the heat element can be enjoyed
and the other flavor notes within the food can follow. It is thought to be
the protein – casein – in dairy products which detaches the capsaicins from
your receptors and provides some relief.

If no dairy product is handy when you are in the mood for some hot peppers,
an alternative is to eat more peppers. Your nerve receptors will become
numb – after awhile!