Do you prefer your food hot or with a little bit of spice? Some people prefer their food to be spicy. But when does anything hot go too far? Is it possible to have too much spice? Explore now.
Scoville Heat Index
Scoville Hot Units (SHU), which are based on the concentration of capsaicinoids, of which capsaicin is the major one, are used to measure the pungency (spiciness or “heat”) of chilli peppers. Chemicals called capsaicinoids are a part of what makes eating chilli peppers burn. Therefore, a pepper’s ranking on the Scoville Scale increases as capsaicin content increases.
For instance, bell peppers rank very low on the Scoville Scale and have a very low amount of capsaicin. Bell peppers therefore have a Scoville rating of zero.
Habanero peppers, on the other hand, are at the top of the Scoville Scale and have a very high capsaicin content.
The Carolina Reaper, which has a score of 2.2 million SHU, is the hottest pepper in the world, according to Guinness World Records.
When is something spicy too hot?
So when does a spice get too hot? That truly depends on how much spice you can handle. High Scoville peppers are tolerable to some people, yet low Scoville peppers are intolerable to others. As a result, it truly differs from individual to person. Stick to peppers with a lower Scoville rating if you enjoy a little spiciness in your food. Choose peppers with a higher Scoville rating if you prefer it hot.
Approaching Spicy Food
Truth be told, we’ve all been there. While dining, you spot a meal that looks amazing… and you realize that it is covered in a bright red chili pepper at that point. Though your initial inclination is to avoid it, something prompts you to be courageous and give it a shot. So you bite into something and immediately regret it. Your eyes are watering, your mouth is burning, and you can feel the beads of sweat building on your forehead. However, why does this occur? And perhaps more importantly, how can it be avoided?
Capsaicinoids bind to heat-sensing receptors in our mouths and throats. By doing this, they deceive our brains into believing that we are in fact eating something hot, which causes all the typical symptoms, such as sweating and an accelerated heart rate. Capsaicinoids are so potent that they can even make our skin hurt and feel like it’s burning!
Levels of Tolerance
How then can you stop this from happening? Understanding your own tolerance level is the first step. Since everyone reacts to spice in food differently, what may be excessive for one person may not be for another. Working your way up is possible after you are aware of your personal heat tolerance.
There are various ways to make hot food more spicier if you’re truly willing to test your limits. One is to use hotter peppers or more chilli powder to increase the amount of capsaicinoids in the dish. Another is to lessen the fat content of the meal because fat molecules aid in the breakdown of capsaicinoids and lessen their potency.
Only if you know your limits can eating spicy cuisine be a lot of fun! You may ensure that your next culinary experience is enjoyable by being aware of how capsaicinoids function and what kind of impact they have on your body.
Just keep in mind that it can be difficult to remove spice from food once it has been added, so start with less than you think you need and add more if necessary.
Who knows, though? You’ll discover that you can withstand more heat than you believed after moving up the Scoville scale!