Why Chilies Are Hot and Yogurt Puts Out the Fire

bazzalunatic writes "The hottest chili in the world was made by Australians earlier this year, but how did they get the chilies so hot? Seems that worm juice is the key to revving up the capsaicin. And milk and yogurt are best to douse the heat, as they have fats that can absorb the capsaicin — which actually hijacks the neurons that detect heat."

Re:most important conclusion

[gstoddart]

I've had hotter than Pure Cap. You have to work up to it to be able to handle it, but it's very doable.

I just don't see the point, to be honest.

Years ago, a friendly pub owner offered to make several of us his "stupid hot" wings ... basically, fresh habaneros and lots of other stuff.

It numbed my face, and the next day was ... unpleasant. Since then, my stomach literally can't handle anything excessively hot, and I no longer derive pleasure from it.

I just don't want to play anymore -- I can get tasty with some heat long before the ridiculous threshold that playing around with some of those peppers are at.

Though, a friend of my wife has been eating hot spicy foods for so long, that I'm fairly convinced that if food isn't crazy hot (and super salty), she can't even taste it any more. Because everything she cooks is very spicy. So she's either worn out the taste buds, or with age they're less sensitive. I don't want to be in my 50s and not taste anything less corrosive than battery acid. :-P

Re:They forgot alcohol.

[Jane Q. Public]

Alton is good, but not perfect. That's actually nonsense. On the standard rough scale of solubility, capsaicin is considered "very" soluble in alcohol. Google it.