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Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

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Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#21

Post by aaroninsf »

abakker wrote: post #19
alyandon wrote: post #12

Ghost peppers are the hottest peppers I've ever dared to eat directly. They are so far beyond hot that I don't even feel a burning sensation - more like pure, unadulterated pain like you'd expect from having a nail driven through your tongue. I really don't like the flavor of them either so there isn't really much motivation for me to ever eat one again. They are really great in small quantities for spicing up dishes…

It wasn't a ghost pepper, but I once at a small green pepper that was so hot that my tastebuds kind of short circuited, and all I could taste was roses. After a few seconds of that, stye came back online with the excruciating burn of a very hot pepper, but for about 3 seconds, I could have sworn I had eaten a rose.

<-- would pay and suffer to experience this illusion!

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#23

Post by coldcode »

alyandon wrote: post #12

Ghost peppers are the hottest peppers I've ever dared to eat directly. They are so far beyond hot that I don't even feel a burning sensation - more like pure, unadulterated pain like you'd expect from having a nail driven through your tongue. I really don't like the flavor of them either so there isn't really much motivation for me to ever eat one again. They are really great in small quantities for spicing up dishes…

People in India supposedly use ghost peppers painted on fences to keep elephants out. Anything that causes and elephant pain is something I don't want to try.

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#24

Post by blockoperation »

SEJeff wrote: post #13

Short answer: yes Longer answer: yes, and it can wreck you http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/10/18/ghost-pepper-p...

But does that really count? Eating superhot peppers won't necessarily make you vomit, let alone make you vomit enough to rip your oesophagus (which is incredibly rare, even in the most intense bouts of vomiting).

FWIW, I grow these things, and have foolishly tried eating them raw a few times, and while I really wouldn't recommend it (the pain is indescribable, both in your mouth and in your stomach, and if you forget to wear gloves when handling them, many other places too), there's nothing particularly dangerous about it.

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#25

Post by M_Grey »

huherto wrote: post #11

Mexican here. I find it amusing that people focus on how spicy their peppers are. They are missing the point. There are many pepper varieties and each has a different flavor. That is the interesting part and how it mixes with different foods in a variety of recipes. Focus on the flavor, not the burn.

I used to think that whole idea was crap, until I started seriously eating spicy foods. Now I really love the different flavors, not just heat, you get from peppers. Habanero are almost fruity, Jalapeno more like an amped up bell pepper, and so on. Then you have the differences in quality of burn; is it a numbing burn like szechuan pepper? A "back of the throat, choke you" burn like a Thai chili?

It's a whole new world of stimulation!

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#26

Post by M_Grey »

yoamro wrote: post #20

I'd be interested to see how someone would fare by chewing on some synsepalum dulcificum aka miracle fruit [1] followed by a Ghost pepper. In theory, it should be able to block out most of the TRPV1 heat receptors as well. If only I did my thesis on this. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synsepalum_dulcificum

You should submit that concept to some of the more daring Youtube channels, such as "Good Mythical Morning"... they might actually try it.

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#27

Post by Raphmedia »

Noseshine wrote: post #17

Anecdote allowed? This reminds me of the Habanero Burger at "The Swinging Door" pub (I'm not sure it had the same name when I went there occasionally over 10 years ago, the first time actually almost 20 years ago in 1997) in San Mateo, CA [0]. (EDIT: It was the Prince of Wales pub previously! Lots of Habanero Burger stories: [1]) They had a "Wall of Flame" with stickers from all people who "survived" eating one. You…

> my tongue hung out under flowing water from the faucet in the bathroom.

Oh god. Capsaicin is not water soluble. You just removed everything from your tongue BUT the capsaicin.

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#28

Post by jobvandervoort »

I always found it interesting that our way of rating spiciness is through the subjective Scoville scale. Directly from wikipedia:

> In Scoville's method, an exact weight of dried pepper is dissolved in alcohol to extract the heat components (capsinoids), then diluted in a solution of sugar water.[3][4][5] Decreasing concentrations of the extracted capsinoids are given to a panel of five trained tasters, until a majority (at least three) can no longer detect the heat in a dilution.[4][5][6] The heat level is based on this dilution, rated in multiples of 100 SHU.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale#Scoville_organo...

In other words, the test is fully subjective and has been found to be unreliable:

> A weakness of the Scoville Organoleptic Test is its imprecision due to human subjectivity, depending on the taster's palate and their number of mouth heat receptors, which varies greatly among people.[6] Another weakness is sensory fatigue:[6] the palate is quickly desensitised to capsaicins after tasting a few samples within a short time period.[4] Results vary widely (up to ± 50%) between laboratories

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#29

Post by ThomPete »

ythl wrote: post #16
huherto wrote: post #11

Mexican here. I find it amusing that people focus on how spicy their peppers are. They are missing the point. There are many pepper varieties and each has a different flavor. That is the interesting part and how it mixes with different foods in a variety of recipes. Focus on the flavor, not the burn.

That's because for us mortals, the flavor is completely overpowered by the capsaicin in most cases. I have relatively low capsaicin tolerance, and so I can't tell the difference between flavors of two different but equally spicy peppers because my brain is too occupied with the burn. It's hard not to focus on it.

You tolerance will increase the more you eat.

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#30

Post by zip1234 »

huherto wrote: post #18
ythl wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because for us mortals, the flavor is completely overpowered by the capsaicin in most cases. I have relatively low capsaicin tolerance, and so I can't tell the difference between flavors of two different but equally spicy peppers because my brain is too occupied with the burn. It's hard not to focus on it.

:) You will notice that Mexican food is frequently accompanied by a variety of sauces and/or peppers. So you can try them and make the decision on which you want and how much you want and maximize the enjoyment. It is gotta be hot but not too much that you stop enjoying the food. That is how children learn.

And also plenty of salt and limes to dim the heat when necessary.
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