Blog entries tagged Capsaicin

Ask Chef Mike: Why Heatless Jalapeños?

Lois Manno — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 21:21:20 +0100

Q: I heard about some guy who has developed a jalapeño pepper with no heat. Why would anybody do that?

A: Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Some manufacturers of hot products prefer to use heatless chile varieties and add heat later during processing through ...

Dave's Chile Podcast Launches

Dave DeWitt — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:26:37 +0100

James Beck of EatMoreHeat.com is my first guest on the new weekly feature of the SuperSite, and he discusses eating superhot chiles and finishing an Apocalypse Burger. Upcoming guests are Dave Hirschkop who invented Insanity Sauce; chemical engineer Marlin Bensinger, who ...

Could the Cure for Cancer be Found in Chiles?

Kelli Bergthold — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:36:03 +0100

The much sought after cure for cancer could be heating up. Recent findings from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center suggests that capsaicin, the active chemical compound that gives chile peppers their heat, may reduce and even block chronic inflammation pathways in cancer cells.

I...

Fiery Foods Team to Try for "Hottest Chile" Record

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:56:45 +0100

Above is the press release about our ongoing attempt at the Guinness World Record for what they call "Hottest Chili." We missed it by that much, but never fear, we'll be back! Read the entire story here.

Avoid Burnout at the Scovies and Fiery Foods Show

Kelli Bergthold — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 03:04:26 +0100

Last week, a judge at the Fiery Foods Challenge, a spicy food contest held in conjunction with Texas-based festival, ZestFest 2011, was hospitalized after sampling an entry. The blind entry in the hot sauce category was described as a “nightmare in a bottle” by another of the contest judges. Speculators ...

University of Warwick Response to Naga Viper Testing

Dave DeWitt — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:46:02 +0100

We wanted to make sure that everyone understands the position of University of Warwick regarding testing of the Naga Viper. Peter Dunn, head of communications, just sent us this statement:

The University of Warwick School of Life Sciences has been asked by a n...

Pepper Spray for Your House?

Kelli Bergthold — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 22:15:36 +0100

The Burglar Blaster security system

Ever wish you had a more appropriate way than an ADT Home Security system to safeguard your hot sauce collection? Imagine if a burglar snuck into your house, tripped the alarm system, and was sprayed with a fiery blast of pepper spray? Now that’s poetic justice. T...

The Pepper Eater Project

Kelli Bergthold — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 15:26:06 +0100

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that producing fiery foods is more than just a passion – in many parts of the world, chile production and processing is a necessity. Dried red pepper is the one of the most widely consumed spices in the world, eaten daily by one-quarter of the world’s population. Chile pe...

Progenitor of 'Bhut Jolokia' Found?

Dave DeWitt — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:38:56 +0100

For the 5+ years that the rumors and then stories about the superhot 'Bhut Jolokia' from Assam in northeast India have surfaced, I've wondered about its origin. Pods of Capsicum chinense are found all over the Caribb...

Peppered Seals?

Kelli Bergthold — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 22:13:07 +0100

Pepper spray has a long history of being used for self defense against both humans and wild animals. It’s an effective, non-lethal weapon that can keep people safe without having to resort to brute force. The active ingredient in pepper spray is oleoresin capsicum, which is a wax-like resin extracted from f...

Media Mangles Report: Capsaicin Does Not Cause Skin Cancer

Lois Manno — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 23:54:08 +0100

A study in the journal Cancer Research appears to link capsaicin, a component of chili peppers, to skin cancer. This is a misinterpretation of the data, according to SuperSite Publisher Dave DeWitt, international authority on chili peppers and author of more than forty books about peppers, including The Healin...

Abuelita's Killer Red Chile

Dave DeWitt — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:54:52 +0100

I never imagined that a single red chile enchilada could burn me out. After all, I've been eating New Mexican red chile enchiladas for 35 years, and although some red chile sauces are hotter than others, they usually run medium-hot at th...

Expedition Heat: In Search of What Makes Peppers Hot

Kelli Bergthold — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:06:46 +0100

Chile peppers are hot, and we love them for it! From mild bell peppers to the insanely hot Bhut Jolokia, peppers can have an incredible heat range. But have you ever wondered why our favorite chile peppers are so hot? Join an American ecologist, his weary team of graduate assistants and scientists, ...

Chile Peppers May Help Lower Blood Pressure

Kelli Bergthold — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:16:27 +0100

Good news for chile lovers: A recent study has found that long-term consumption of chile peppers may help lower blood pressure. Capsaicin is the compound in chile peppers that gives them their spicy kick; along with its heat properties, the compound works to r...

Coming Soon: Hatch is Back!

Kelli Bergthold — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:30:22 +0100

It’s that time of year here in New Mexico—the air will soon be ripe with the fragrant scent of roasting Hatch green chiles; mouths will water, and tongues will burn. The 2010 Hatch chile season was off to a rough start this year as the New Mexico harvest was delayed due to weather, but this week, chileh...

Capsaicin Keeps Rats Skinny

Dave DeWitt — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 13:04:20 +0100

Korean researchers fed five-week-old rats high-fat diets. Some got a daily oral injection of capsaicin, the fiery chemical in chile peppers, or just a control (the liquid that had been used to dilute the capsaicin). Throughout the course of the experiment, the rats getting capsaicin gained 8 percen...

James of SpicyRV.com Beats the Four Horsemen Burger Challenge

Dave DeWitt — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:18:23 +0100

It's "Fiery Foods Show or Bust" as James Beck and his cohorts drive the Spicy RV from Houston to Albuquerque. Spicy RV’s first Friday night we descended upon Chunky’s Burgers in San Antonio, Texas. It would be safe to say Chunky’s was catapulted to national fame when Adam Ri...

Distasteful Solutions to Gnawing Problems

Lois Manno — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:59:29 +0100

You gotta love a company that names its most popular product Repela.TM According the the company’s website, this is “a combination of denatonium benzoate and natural capsaicin. ...

Combining Cocaine and Capsaicin Might Kill Your High…Permanently

Lois Manno — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:42:46 +0100

Twenty-six cases of people in the 1990s who died unexpectedly while in police custody after being doused with pepper spray might be explained by a toxic reaction caused by capsaicin in the spray. It seems that pepper spray intensifies the effect...