<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nWe’ve all experienced that burning sensation in our mouth after biting into a chili pepper. But don’t worry, it’s not a real burn. It’s simply a hot feeling that can be soothed with a glass of milk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chili peppers are found in varying amounts in different\u00a0recipes\u00a0around the world. They’re in Indian curry, Mexican chili con carne, and North African harissa, for example. In fact,\u00a0chili peppers\u00a0are now the most consumed spice on the planet. Some people really enjoy the burning sensation they produce when eaten. Others, not so much. In any case, let’s focus on the idea of \u200b\u200ba sensation. Indeed, eating chili peppers doesn’t produce the characteristics of a burn in the mouth: blisters, redness, swelling, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, let’s remember that our tongue is covered with what scientists call taste buds. Each of these buds contains\u00a0taste buds\u00a0made up of dozens of sensory cells connected to our brain. Some have receptors for sweet or salty tastes. Others have receptors linked to sensations of hot or cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The presence of capsaicin in chili peppers likely indicates a defense mechanism of the plant. Mammals, which are sensitive to it, would thus be deterred from ingesting the capsaicin-rich seeds. Once through a mammal’s digestive system, a chili pepper seed loses its ability to germinate. Birds, on the other hand, which are not sensitive to capsaicin, do not damage the seeds by ingesting them and thus help to disperse them. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChili pepper: to soothe the burning sensation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
However, a\u00a0molecule called capsaicin\u00a0– or its cousins, themolecules- belonging to the capsaicinoid family – has the ability to bind to heat receptors which, in principle, are activated when food exceeds 44\u00b0C. Thus, when we eat chili peppers, our taste buds send a painful signal to our brain, asignalan alarm to warn him – wrongly – of ingesting food that was too hot. Hence, the burning sensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note that the\u00a0burning sensation\u00a0can also occur if, after handling a chili pepper, you rub youreyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You probably also know that it’s completely pointless to try to drink water to relieve the burning sensation. That’s because capsaicin isn’t water-soluble. It’s even possible to detect one gram of it in ten cubic meters of water. This is, in fact, the basis on which the…Scoville scale- from 0 for neutral to 10 for explosive, with Tabasco being rated 9 for volcanic – which determines the heat of a chili pepper. A chili pepper is diluted in sugar water and as long as at least 60% of the testers can detect it, the dilution continues: x 10, x 100, x 1000, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To lessen the burning sensation, it’s best\u00a0to opt for milk\u00a0, which can block the action of capsaicin. Or\u00a0cheese\u00a0, oil, or ice cream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chili peppers don’t burn your mouth. They simply cause a burning sensation, which can be quite painful. We’ve all experienced that burning sensation in our mouth after biting into a chili pepper. But don’t worry, it’s not a real burn. It’s simply a hot feeling that can be soothed with a glass of milk. Chili…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/senly.site\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/senly.site\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/senly.site\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senly.site\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senly.site\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/senly.site\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":543,"href":"https:\/\/senly.site\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions\/543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senly.site\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/senly.site\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senly.site\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senly.site\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}