Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 179 posts

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#41

Post by sehr »

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.

chile pequin maybe?

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#42

Post by klipt »

M_Grey wrote: post #38
klipt wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just FYI, Sichuan pepper is a great spice, but isn't related to the chili family (habanero, jalapeno, thai, etc) at all.

What is it exactly? It looks a bit like a spiny berry to my untrained eye.

Wiki says:

"The genus Zanthoxylum belongs in the rue or citrus family, and, despite its name, is not closely related to either black pepper or chili pepper."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan_pepper

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#43

Post by khedoros1 »

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.

When I was about 10, I was down in Mexico doing some volunteer work. Someone gave me a small green pepper. I bit into it, and it was incredibly juicy. I remember feeling a burst of stars in my mouth, a short pleasant flavor, numbness, and then a feeling like a firecracker went off in my mouth. I drank a lot of water, but my mouth burned for a solid hour.

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#44

Post by jimmywanger »

M_Grey wrote: post #38
klipt wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just FYI, Sichuan pepper is a great spice, but isn't related to the chili family (habanero, jalapeno, thai, etc) at all.

What is it exactly? It looks a bit like a spiny berry to my untrained eye.

Citrus, like the other guy said.

For a long time, importation was forbidden because the US is very protective of its citrus crop. We had to bring it back over from China.

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#45

Post by logfromblammo »

jordigh wrote: post #33
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.

Mexican here too. I do like the burn, which is a separate sensation from the flavour. The burn is a pleasant, controlled pain. It also makes the flavours more intense. I regularly consume habaneros, and I've recently tried ghost peppers in the form of hot chicken wings. I didn't know hot sauce could make my whole hand burn, but it did, for an entire day. I can see why people put on gloves to handle ghost peppers. I w…

Topically applied capsaicin ointment has been used to alleviate [osteo-] arthritis pain. Basically, it overstimulates the pain receptors, and they attenuate to a lower level.

Wearing gloves is a good idea while processing capsicums, but also quietly chant to yourself "Don't touch your eyes. Don't touch your eyes. Don't touch your eyes."

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#46

Post by huherto »

jordigh wrote: post #33
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.

Mexican here too. I do like the burn, which is a separate sensation from the flavour. The burn is a pleasant, controlled pain. It also makes the flavours more intense. I regularly consume habaneros, and I've recently tried ghost peppers in the form of hot chicken wings. I didn't know hot sauce could make my whole hand burn, but it did, for an entire day. I can see why people put on gloves to handle ghost peppers. I w…

yes, yes. The burn is important. I was just trying to stress the importance of flavor. The best is when it is so hot but so good and the only thing you can do is keep eating. You know that it is really going to hurt when you stop.

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#47

Post by avar »

jobvandervoort wrote: post #28

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 major…

It's not "fully subjective" by any sensible definition. Yes humans are the measurement device, and humans differ and are unreliable, but given a sufficient number of samples you arrive at more accurate numbers.

Nobody's going to give a paprika the same rating as a Carolina Reaper. You might have some give two very strong peppers the same rating, but then you might just need more people to test it.

In any case, the practical utility of the scale is mostly to get an idea of how spicy something is, it doesn't really matter much if something is 700K or 600K, it's enough to know that it's around 2x as strong as a Habanero.

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#48

Post by at-fates-hands »

jordigh wrote: post #33
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.

Mexican here too. I do like the burn, which is a separate sensation from the flavour. The burn is a pleasant, controlled pain. It also makes the flavours more intense. I regularly consume habaneros, and I've recently tried ghost peppers in the form of hot chicken wings. I didn't know hot sauce could make my whole hand burn, but it did, for an entire day. I can see why people put on gloves to handle ghost peppers. I w…

I've more than a few friends who didn't use gloves when they were handling hot peppers. Then they rubbed their eyes, or worse, have to go pee and handled their junk. Just imagine the burn you had all day on your fingers being in your eyes or other sensitive parts of your body.

The gloves are a safety precaution and should be used every time - just in case.

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#49

Post by peferron »

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…

Haha, I was also thinking about the Swinging Door while reading these comments. I haven't even had the courage to try their XXX burger yet, the "basic" habanero burger is already enough for me. If you ever go back, try getting an ice cream sandwich after your burger, works much better than water :)

Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

#50

Post by jordigh »

huherto wrote: post #46
jordigh wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mexican here too. I do like the burn, which is a separate sensation from the flavour. The burn is a pleasant, controlled pain. It also makes the flavours more intense. I regularly consume habaneros, and I've recently tried ghost peppers in the form of hot chicken wings. I didn't know hot sauce could make my whole hand burn, but it did, for an entire day. I can see why people put on gloves to handle ghost peppers. I w…

yes, yes. The burn is important. I was just trying to stress the importance of flavor. The best is when it is so hot but so good and the only thing you can do is keep eating. You know that it is really going to hurt when you stop.

I don't eat habaneros or ghost peppers for the flavour. I eat them for the burn. I guess the flavour is ok, but it's not the main attraction. Just like people don't really consume beer for the flavour, or non-alcoholic beer would be a lot more popular than it is, since it just tastes like beer without the bitterness of alcohol.

https://xkcd.com/1534/

Post reply on HN