Capsaicin stimulates mouth and eyes
With a red pepper you give dishes more spice. But rubbing your eyes after cutting is not a good idea. What makes chilli peppers so hot? And why are they good for the line?
We also call chili peppers red peppers or chili peppers. Like bell peppers and potatoes, they belong to the nightshade family. There are all kinds, sizes and colours. Green peppers are red peppers that are not yet ripe. In addition, orange, yellow and white peppers are grown.
By the way, all these elongated peppers are not relatives of the black and white grains that you grind into pepper. Those grains are berries from a different kind of pepper plant. They do have a similar function in the kitchen: to make dishes spicy.
capsaicin
The substance that makes chilies so hot is capsaicin. Capsaicin stimulates receptors on the tongue which are intended to sense heat, making it feel like you have something hot in your mouth. There are also such receptors on your skin and mucous membranes. Rubbing your eyes after touching a pepper can therefore hurt quite a bit.
How spicy a type of pepper is is expressed on the Scoville scale. A bell pepper scores 0 Scoville units, the jalapeno pepper 2500-8000 and the Tabasco pepper – known for the spicy sauce that you only need a drop of – even 30,000-70,000. Some peppers are so hot that you can only cut them with gloves on. They are especially popular in warm countries, possibly because you love them to sweat and cools down so nicely.
The hot substance can also be found in creams against, for example, nerve pain, rheumatoid arthritis and itching. The capsaicin ensures that pain and sensory stimuli are not passed on to the brain, so that you experience less pain and itch experiences.
Against the heat
Cooking or baking does not make peppers less spicy. It does help to remove the seeds and seed lists (the white part where the seeds are attached). In addition, your body gets used to capsaicin. If you eat peppers regularly, you will notice that you can cope with them more and more.
Is your mouth on fire? Drinking water does not make sense, because capsaicin does not dissolve in water. It does dissolve in fat and alcohol. So rather have a drink milk or an alcoholic drink if the flames shoot out of your ears.
Do not touch your eyes if you have just cut a pepper. If you get pepper in your eyes, rinsing with milk will help. Or rub your hands with a little oil before slicing peppers to make it easier to wash off the capsaicin afterwards.
Burning calories
Chili peppers contain vitamin C, carbohydrates, protein, fiber and fat, but because you only use a small amount, their nutritional value is actually negligible. There are indications that peppers are good for the line. As it turned out an American study that you get less hungry and burn more calories if you add a spoonful of pepper to your meal.
A study by Maastricht UMC+ showed that pepper Yoyo effect can occur. Extra capsaicin in the food ensured that the energy consumption of test subjects did not decrease during a diet. In addition, their fat burning increased.
Recipes
Do you have any peppers left? They come in handy in these dishes.
- Spicy lentil tomato soup
- Spicy coconut soup
- Ceviche of sea bass, fennel and citrus fruits
- Thai beef curry
- Oriental Chicken Salad
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