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A Little Chile Chemistry For The Visiting Rocket Scientist Chiles are members of the Capsicum family. Heat range is diverse, ranging from very mild to extremely wild. The particular class of substances that determine their disposition is known, by those who study such things, as Capsaicinoids. The two most common component of this class are Capsaicin and Di-Hydrocapsaicin they looks something like this: Capsaicin
H3CO \____ O CH3 / \ | | HO-< >-C-N-C-(CH2)4-C=C-C-CH3 \____/ | | | | | H2 H H H H
Di-Hydrocapsaicin
H3CO \____ O CH3 / \ | | HO-< >-C-N-C-(CH2)6-C-CH3 \____/ | | H2 H Capsaicin and Di-hydrocapsaicin together make up 80-90% of the Capsaicinoids found in Chile peppers. The perception that peppers are "hot" is not an accident. The capsaicin key opens a door in the cell membrane that allows calcium ions to flood into the cell. That ultimately triggers a pain signal that is transmitted to the next cell. When the cells are exposed to heat, the same events occur. Chile burns and heat burns are similar at the molecular, cellular, and sensory levels.
People that eat lots of spicy capsaicin-rich foods build up a tolerance to it. The incentive: Once a person has become somewhat desensitized to the extreme heat of the "hotter" Chiles, he or she can starts on a new culinary journey. The result is an increasing ability to tolerate ever hotter foods and permits one to assume the title of "Chile-Head" or "CH" for short.
Loads of addition information, chemical analysis of chile peppers and more is available in the full text of the article. See the link below to go there. Click here for the full text of the article Many thanks to Uncle Steve at ushotsutff.com for this excellent information! Click here to return to the Articles and Information main page. |
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