BY MICHAEL DEVLIN
A STRANGE phenomenon, chilli peppers are the marmite of the vegetable world, you either love them or hate them.
In existence since around 7,000 BC, chilli peppers are the heat in your curry, fajitas, or kicked up Bloody Mary and when they're balanced they can be so satisfying but when they're proper hot, they can be lethal. FACT: A concentrated derivative of one of the hottest examples in creation is even used as a component for tear gas.
Measured on the Scoville scale, chilli peppers range from the mild and sweet bell pepper (0 units) that we all know and love up to the nuclear meltdown of the naga jolokia, which could literally, as Dirty Harry would say, "Blow your head clean off, punk."
The title holder for World Hottest Chilli, according to experts at the Indian Defence Research Laboratory in the army garrison town of Tezpur in the north-eastern state of Assam, is the local naga jolokia (capsicum frutescens). In testing, boffins claim that the Tezpur chilli was nearly 50% more pungent than the red savina habanero from Mexico, registering a blistering 855,000 Scoville units. However, despite repeated requests the outside world has been unable to obtain samples and therefore substantiate these claims, for the meantime the red savina retains the title.
CAPSAICIN
The heat of the chilli comes from the oil called capsaicin which is present throughout the vegetable though it is found mostly in the seeds and the "ribs" of chilli peppers. When consumed, capsaicin acts on the same nerves - found in the tongue and the skin - that gives us a sensation of heat. It releases a chemical called "substance P" into the blood which sends signals to the brain, telling it you are eating something hot.
Thankfully, apart from the heat, there is no evidence that eating too much chilli is unhealthy, or that it causes ulcers. On the contrary, capsaicin is used in anti-inflammatory creams to treat ailments like arthritis and shingles. What is more, there is another reason why we go on eating chilli even though it "burns" our tongues. When nerve cells release substance P, the body produces chemicals called endorphins (happy chemicals) - and these act on brain cells in the same way that opium-derived drug morphine does. As a result, you feel good.
The pleasure/pain reaction to peppers is said to have a psychologically beneficial effect. Nutritionally peppers contain lots of vitamin A, B and C, as well as magnesium, iron, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.
God forbid it, but if you are unfortunate (when drunk or adrift on a sea of your own solid ego) to think you can handle hot, hot, heat and you eat a Scottish Bonnet whole, drinking water will do no good because capsaicin is not soluble in water. It's like trying to wash away grease with water. What you have to do is get some fat into you and that means drinking milk, eating yoghurt, ice cream or even peanut butter or chocolate.
WARNING: When preparing chilli peppers for use in the kitchen do NOT pick your nose afterwards. You may die (punk). And another thing: Why are they called 'chilli' when they are so obviously not?
