Where's the hot in a hot pepper?

[lozina]

 

[Ikonomi]

The membrane inside.

 

[meltdown75]

hot pepper
^^^

i will guess seeds.

 

[leftyman]

i believe its an oil thats in the skin?

 

[sourceninja]

The hotness is actually a chemical in the whole peper, but it is most dominate in the white meaty part inside the peper that the seeds stick too. That is the hottest part of any pepper.

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: sourceninja
The hotness is actually a chemical in the whole peper, but it is most dominate in the white meaty part inside the peper that the seeds stick too. That is the hottest part of any pepper.

Do hot peppers dominate you?

 

[sourceninja]

So sue me, I can't spell LOL

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: sourceninja
So sue me, I can't spell LOL

Nah, I think you've revealed a hidden hot pepper fetish!

 

[40Hands]

capsaicin



edit: seeds/whiteness inside is the hottest part.

 

[BlackAdam]

Originally posted by: Ikonomi
The membrane inside.

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: BroeBo
capsaicin



edit: seeds/whiteness inside is the hottest part.

awesome link, thanks!

 

[Accipiter22]

capsaicin, it's 'hot' because it contains something called substance P was identified by this guy way back in teh day, before you could identify chemicals as easily as we do now a day. He actually bottled a bunch of it in powder form, and it was promptly lost for about 50 years, until it was found in some of his affects his children went through one day. It triggers a release of a polypeptide acting at nerve synapses, and because of it's nature once the release of it starts, it keeps going until there's none left in the nerve. This is why drinking water and other liquids doesn't dull the burn when you eat hot foods, only time does.

I see someone posted a capsaicin link, good read

 

[lozina]

I noticed that eating a fresh tomato right after eating hot pepper seems to do a good job cooling it off... is there somethign in tomatoes that neutralizes capsaicin or something like that?

 

[Jzero]

Sugars help neutralize it.

Tomato juice is acidic and capsaicin is alakaline, so that could be helpful as well.