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Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

124 points by thetopher 10y ago

johnbrodie 10y ago
As someone who enjoys a good hot sauce or pepper, I was interested in this article. Have I done damage to myself by eating 5 million+ scoville sauces? Unfortunately, this article is almost completely devoid of real information, and doesn't answer the question at all.
- jameskilton 10y ago
  I though the article covered the question and was very informative: the only after-affect we've been able to show is the possible, eventual dulling of the pain neurons involved.
- kbenson 10y ago
  There's at least some concession to the title in the third to the last paragraph: But, hours or a day or so of very serious discomfort aside, there don’t seem to be long-term dangers, per se, in eating very hot peppers. Biologists have observed, however, that administering capsaicin over long periods of time in young mammals does result in the death of the pain neurons, Bryant says. Setting the neurons off repeatedly wears them out, and they don’t grow back.
- yourapostasy 10y ago
  Spicy is pleasurable to me, but nothing beyond the 350K Scoville range. I can't even fathom 1M Scoville, not to speak of 5M+ Scoville. How do you recover from that? The article prompted me to ask why our pain neurons interpret the capsaicin burn the approximately the same as a temperature burning sensation. It turns out we don't fully know yet [1]. Some spice hound is going to score big time doing graduate thesis work on answering this question, literally eating spicy food for science. [1] http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/chili-peppers-mouths-on-fire/ http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/chili-peppers...
- deleted 10y ago
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- topbanana 10y ago
  It does actually conclude that you can't hurt yourself.
- blhack 10y ago
  What sauces exist that at 5M+? If you're talking about pure capsaicin extract that you have added to your own food (essentially making your food into a sauce), then you aren't eating anything that is 5M SHUs, since that is not how the scale works.
  - spotman 10y ago
    Some of the Blairs brand of hot sauces claim up to 16 million on the scoville scale. I have tried the 4am sauce which claims 4M on the scoville scale, and it was not a laughing matter immediately, more crying, then laughing days later. (I love this stuff though, and would do it again!) Having said that the stuff in the millions is pretty darn hard to find, they don't stock it or even sell it regularly. Info: http://www.ushotstuff.com/hotSauceHeatScale.htm http://www.ushotstuff.com/hotSauceHeatScale.htm
anc84 10y ago
tl;dr: Nothing long-term, but pain neurons might die off by prolonged/repeated exposure based on animal tests.
- mike_hock 10y ago
  Meaning your tolerance doesn't wear off, and you only become more bad ass the more you keep eating close to your tolerance level.
steanne 10y ago
http://www.jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679(16)30256-6/abstract http://www.jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679(16)30256-6/abs...
JonnieCache 10y ago
The resturant they're talking about is Burger Off, in Hove. They famously make you sign a disclaimer before you eat the burger. I've seen several people attempt it, and they've all regretted the decision. Brighton also has an annual chilli festival. There's a chilli eating competition, and paramedics are often needed by the losers, sometimes the winners. It's a bit stupid really, a bit like the teenage-boyish pursuit of unnecessarily strong marijuana, but whatever floats your boat I suppose.
pcunite 10y ago
When I was a kid, I sat across from a guy eating chips and salsa with sweat pouring down his face. I asked him if it was hot (pointing to the sause) and he snapped back, "No!". To my surprise, I read about him in a local newspaper a few years ago. He apparently died from actually swallowing a lit charcoal covered in Pace Picante sauce. not a true story
huherto 10y ago
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.
- teaearlgraycold 10y ago
  The burn is an important part of the pepper experience. For some, building a tolerance to capsaicin is a hobby. They're not missing the point, they're just eating them for a different reason. And what's nice about building up an extreme tolerance to capsaicin is that afterwards you are able to better experience the flavor of peppers, without focusing entirely on the heat.
  - elboru 10y ago
    Exactly that's why it's common in Mexican recipes to leave seeds, it's a totally different experience to eat Guacamole with and without pepper seeds.
    - duaneb 10y ago
      To my understanding, capsaicin is in the flesh around the seeds, but the seeds themselves are not spicy and tend to add sweetness. Is that correct?
      - markdown 10y ago
        I too have read that, but my experience is completely different. Nothing burns like the seeds.
        mindcrime 10y ago
        That jibes with my experience. Leaving the seeds in seems to create a hotter dish.
      - 10y ago
alyandon 10y ago
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 without altering the flavor of the dish in question though. Habanero peppers on the other hand - have a wonderfully fruity flavor. I wish I had a bit more stamina with regards to eating them. :(
- CalChris 10y ago
  I cook with habs. The fumes are enough and I scrub after. But one hab in a jambalaya is quite tasty.
- abakker 10y ago
  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.
  - aaroninsf 10y ago
    <-- would pay and suffer to experience this illusion!
    - blhack 10y ago
      Get yourself some "miracle berries" for something similar (although without the heat involved).
  - sehr 10y ago
    chile pequin maybe?
  - khedoros1 10y ago
    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.
SEJeff 10y ago
Short answer: yes Longer answer: yes, and it can wreck you http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/10/18/ghost-pepper-puts-hole-mans-esophagus/92350120/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/10/18/ghost-pepper-p...
- blockoperation 10y ago
  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.
  - SEJeff 10y ago
    I'm a "food enthusiast" and have had raw + cooked ghost and scorpion peppers. Somewhere on YouTube there is a video of me making a proper ass of myself while crushing a scorpion/ghost/habanero hit wing challenge at Jake Melnicks in Chicago. I'm not ever gonna try the Carolina reapers as I don't see the point, but know they will rip you up pretty good. I always eat starchy or carby food before eating super spicy stuff and know it is genuinely no joke. It wouldn't be hard to get an ulcer or worse from some of those peppers.
Noseshine 10y ago
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 had to sign a release form before you got your burger (shown in [1]). As another ex-colleague of mine used to say: Good spicy food hurts twice... I only ever ate one tiny piece off a colleague's plate. Initially I thought "I feel nothing, what's the big deal?" I then spent a good part of the next half hour with my tongue hung out under flowing water from the faucet in the bathroom. The people I saw try it either ate very fast, to be finished before the full pain set in, or very, very slowly. Except for an Indian friend of mine, who seemed pretty unmoved and ate the whole burger normally. By the way, I don't remember the day of the week, but I always went there when the "Silicon Gulch Jazz Band" was playing [2][3]. Back then the (good) singer, an old guy (like all others in that band), played a washboard, really cool. The music was really good (the singing too) :-) [0] http://theswingindoor.com/habanero-burger-xxx/ http://theswingindoor.com/habanero-burger-xxx/ [1] https://www.yelp.com/biz/prince-of-wales-pub-san-mateo https://www.yelp.com/biz/prince-of-wales-pub-san-mateo [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mOPl4BXqD8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mOPl4BXqD8 [3] http://www.sgjazz.com/ http://www.sgjazz.com/
- Raphmedia 10y ago
  > 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.
  - Noseshine 10y ago
    I know (and knew). It was pain control, not capsaicin control. Fortunately they had some disgusting Oreo-cookie like ice cream sandwich that I got in the end.
    - Raphmedia 10y ago
yoamro 10y ago
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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synsepalum_dulcificum
- M_Grey 10y ago
  You should submit that concept to some of the more daring Youtube channels, such as "Good Mythical Morning"... they might actually try it.
- StavrosK 10y ago
  Well, I have some old miracle fruit tablets and various spicy sauces I can try if you want... Probably not Ghost pepper, though.
  - BobCat 10y ago
    Have you tried it yet? It's been a whole minute.
  - deleted 10y ago
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  - M_Grey 10y ago
    I for one, would be interested in the results of that!
    - StavrosK 10y ago
      Alright, I tried it for you guys: I ate one miracle berry tablet (I think the recommended dose is half a tablet, but screw it). The tablets were pretty old, so after consuming it I tested with yoghurt to see if the results held up. Indeed, the yoghurt tasted like cream and was not sour at all, so the tablet was good. Afterwards, I tasted Sriracha sauce, Tapatio and Valentina Extra Hot. All sauces retained their usual taste, except there was no burning sensation in the tongue and mouth at all. However, the sauces retained their burning sensation in the throat, completely intact, as far as I can tell. I'm afraid that I didn't have a control spoonful of sauce before the tablet, because I didn't think of it, but I can have some once the tablet wears out. I seem to recall, though, that a spoonful of Sriracha does normally burn my tongue.
3stripe 10y ago
Some of the videos I've seen on YouTube look pretty darn painful.
jobvandervoort 10y ago
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_organoleptic_test 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
- avar 10y ago
  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.
  - guitarbill 10y ago
    Isn't there going to be a huge sampling bias? I certainly refuse to eat Carolina Reaper, and can't be the only one.
    - nullc 10y ago
      No, the Scoville test is based on a comparison of diluted samples. Trials are rerun with increasing dilution until the testers cannot detect the sample, and the level of dilution determines the score.
zwieback 10y ago
Reviewing video games while eating hot peppers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTMIgyUZDDk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTMIgyUZDDk
spikels 10y ago
This article seems to say chilli peppers can't hurt you. However just a few days ago the Journal of Emergency Medicine reported that a ghost pepper (a very hot chilli pepper) caused an esophageal rupture - a serious and potentially life threatening injury. http://www.jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679(16)30256-6/fulltext?rss=yes http://www.jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679(16)30256-6/ful... Why is the BBC not aware of this? A simple search would have yielded a more timely, accurate and interesting story. Somewhat disappointing.
- jjulius 10y ago
  One could argue that it wasn't necessarily the pepper itself that tore the hole in that individual's esophagus. Rather it was the intense, repeated vomiting that caused the rupture. The pepper only caused the hole by proxy.
- robryk 10y ago
  Note that this is a very indirect way of harming someone: eating peppers has (likely) caused vomiting, violent vomiting has caused rupture of the esophagus. This is similar to saying that walking can cause fat embolism (a life threatening condition): while walking you can fracture one of the long bones in your leg (e.g. your femur). A rare complication of long bone fracture is fat embolism.
- vhost- 10y ago
  But was this due to the heat, acidity or some other characteristic of this cross? Or was it because he swallowed a pepper whole and it tore a hole because it went down sideways? You have to remember how much and how fast people shove things into their mouths during these contests... I can't find anything that tells me why it happened.
  - robryk 10y ago
    It's because of strain while vomiting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boerhaave_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boerhaave_syndrome
jjawssd 10y ago
Fresh off the branch ghost peppers can cause terrible tissue damage for days similar to taking a shot of 192 proof alcohol except ghost peppers can have an incredibly deep and rich flavor for a few seconds before the burn becomes overwhelming. http://www.theliquorbarn.com/polmos-spirytus-rektyfikowany-192-proof-750ml/ http://www.theliquorbarn.com/polmos-spirytus-rektyfikowany-1... The stuff sold in stores diluted in vinegar simply can not compare to freshly grown ghost peppers. There really is an upper bound which humans can not safely handle physically. For freshly grown peppers this might just be several cubic millimeters of pepper.
byuu 10y ago
At least on Chrome, bbc.com is hijacking middle-clicks and opening them in the same window. Who there thought that was a good idea?! That's the first time I've seen that one. If you're a web designer, please do not do that.
- teh_klev 10y ago
  It's done that for years. The BBC UK news site is the same, hugely infuriating.
calvinbhai 10y ago
I'm not sure why people go for the heat. I'm from India and there are many hot/spicy options available. But most chili peppers are used for their flavor or color (e.g. Kashmiri Red Chilli powder is very red, less spicy) and varying the levels of heat/spiciness by adding more of less of it, instead of using the spiciest variety (like the ghost peppers that have caught the fancy of the west). I wish the flavor component had some kind of a quantifiable unit instead of the scoville units that has fueled this craze of feeling the burn. Don't fall for this tongue numbing "hottest wings/sauce in the world". Enjoy the flavor :)
- croon 10y ago
  Thank you. I know Sriracha became meme-levels of popular but I remember the first time I tasted it, thinking: "Oh shit, a hot sauce that actually adds a great taste". Being from a country where the only hot sauce for 20 years was tabasco, and eating vindaloo in a non-authentic Indian restaurant tasted nothing but mouth death. I still never buy "Ass reaper" sauces or anything with similarily ridiculous names, but I love getting as much of different chilis into dishes as I can for taste without ruining it with pain.
- blhack 10y ago
  People go for the heat because it's fun. In my refrigerator right now I have a variety of hot sauces ranging from ~100,000SHU (Scoville Heat Units[1]) to 1,500,000SHU. The 1.5M sauce is way, way, WAY too hot to eat regularly, but it is kindof fun to put it on something and then see if you can get through it or not. I would put it in the same vein as playing two podcasts at the same time and seeing if you can comprehend them both. It's stupid, but it's just silly to see if you can do it. [1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale
  - mindcrime 10y ago
    Yeah, I use everything from jalapeno pepper to Carolina Reapers and everything in between at various times. I never make anything that's just plain loaded down with nothing but reapers, but I use a mix of peppers to make things that are really hot but also have a nice flavor. The heat just makes things interesting, but heat for its own sake isn't very interesting to me. You could buy pure, refined Capsaicin, but what's the point. It would taste disgusting, like "Dave's Insanity" which is hot but nasty. Here's a neat trick I like... combine Scotch Bonnet peppers (or pepper sauce) with the hotter stuff like Ghost Pepper, Trinidad Scorpion or Carolina Reaper. The Scotch Bonnets aren't terribly hot (a little less than Habanero) but taste really good... and then just a little bit of the other stuff to jack the heat up leaves the nice flavor while still making you sweat.
blhack 10y ago
By the way, if anybody is interested in some REALLY crazy heat, check this out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resiniferatoxin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resiniferatoxin
26 10y ago
In Cambodia we have these "bird's eye chilis" [1] and they're included in many dishes. How do these compare to some of the other chili peppers and sauces discussed here? I do have a high tolerance for heat (it's no problem to eat 20-30 of these in a dish, or eat them raw) but I'm not sure I could characterize their taste in any meaningful way. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird%27s_eye_chili https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird%27s_eye_chili
- Maxious 10y ago
  Thankfully a wikipedia editor has categorised the various articles based on the scale mentioned in the article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale#Capsicum_peppers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale#Capsicum_pepper... ie. bird's eye chilis 100,000–225,000 SHU vs ghost pepper 1,041,427 SHU
agentgt 10y ago
I used to be able to handle really hot peppers up in till college and then one day during college completely over did it . I'm not sure if that "day" was the cause of my increased sensitivity or if I just age related but now I can barely enjoy red pepper flakes. Oh it goes down just fine but later... later I'm writhing in pain rolling around in the bed at night ... and then later on the toilet ... well I think you know what happens next. As I get older it seems to get worse which seems like it shouldn't. Shouldn't the receptors be more tolerant? Or maybe it is more like allergens where there is a certain threshold and then once that threshold is exceed you become more and more sensitive (e.g. poison ivy does this). BTW capsaicin does have a theoretical LD 50 based on mice. So yeah if you eat enough it will probably kill you but it is an outrageous amount (~ 50-100mg/kg). You would have to have it extracted to do it (some one actually went ahead and did the math here on how many peppers: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6810/can-you-die-from-eating-chili-peppers http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6810/can-you-die...).
- askvictor 10y ago
  Not sure if this is related, but I developed a condition called 'Lichen Planus' in my mouth a couple of years ago, and now it hurts considerably when I eat even the slightest amount of chilli. Sour foods also hurt, but they're easier to wash away. Quite a shame as I used to enjoy a bit of heat.
- asteli 10y ago
  I had a similar experience. I grew up eating spicy food, with no issues whatsoever, aside from the topside burn. At 21 I experienced a tipping point wherein my gut became sensitive to spicy foods. I had to rethink my relationship with spicy food, else cope with the symptoms you describe. I am very curious what the physiological basis for this change is.
teekert 10y ago
But, hours or a day or so of very serious discomfort aside, there don’t seem to be long-term dangers, per se, in eating very hot peppers. Biologists have observed, however, that administering capsaicin over long periods of time in young mammals does result in the death of the pain neurons, Bryant says. Setting the neurons off repeatedly wears them out, and they don’t grow back. Pff had to almost read to the end for that.
tim333 10y ago
I seems you can hurt yourself - XXX Hot Chilli Burger of Hove has sent 5 people to hospital with it's 9.2 million Scoville burger. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577255/XXX-Hot-Chilli-Burger-fiery-FIVE-people-hospital-diners-sign-waiver-theyre-allowed-order-one.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577255/XXX-Hot-Chil...
a1a 10y ago
"Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_Law_of_Headlines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_Law_of_Headline...
dharma1 10y ago
You can pop as many as you like if you're a bird - https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_did_birds_adapt_to_eat_hot_peppers2 https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_did_birds_adapt_to_eat...
- dmichulke 10y ago
  Unfortunately, no bird will ever read this.

124 points by thetopher 10y ago

As someone who enjoys a good hot sauce or pepper, I was interested in this article. Have I done damage to myself by eating 5 million+ scoville sauces? Unfortunately, this article is almost completely devoid of real information, and doesn't answer the question at all.

jameskilton 10y ago
I though the article covered the question and was very informative: the only after-affect we've been able to show is the possible, eventual dulling of the pain neurons involved.
kbenson 10y ago
There's at least some concession to the title in the third to the last paragraph: But, hours or a day or so of very serious discomfort aside, there don’t seem to be long-term dangers, per se, in eating very hot peppers. Biologists have observed, however, that administering capsaicin over long periods of time in young mammals does result in the death of the pain neurons, Bryant says. Setting the neurons off repeatedly wears them out, and they don’t grow back.
yourapostasy 10y ago
Spicy is pleasurable to me, but nothing beyond the 350K Scoville range. I can't even fathom 1M Scoville, not to speak of 5M+ Scoville. How do you recover from that? The article prompted me to ask why our pain neurons interpret the capsaicin burn the approximately the same as a temperature burning sensation. It turns out we don't fully know yet [1]. Some spice hound is going to score big time doing graduate thesis work on answering this question, literally eating spicy food for science. [1] http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/chili-peppers-mouths-on-fire/ http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/chili-peppers...
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topbanana 10y ago
It does actually conclude that you can't hurt yourself.
blhack 10y ago
What sauces exist that at 5M+? If you're talking about pure capsaicin extract that you have added to your own food (essentially making your food into a sauce), then you aren't eating anything that is 5M SHUs, since that is not how the scale works.
- spotman 10y ago
  Some of the Blairs brand of hot sauces claim up to 16 million on the scoville scale. I have tried the 4am sauce which claims 4M on the scoville scale, and it was not a laughing matter immediately, more crying, then laughing days later. (I love this stuff though, and would do it again!) Having said that the stuff in the millions is pretty darn hard to find, they don't stock it or even sell it regularly. Info: http://www.ushotstuff.com/hotSauceHeatScale.htm http://www.ushotstuff.com/hotSauceHeatScale.htm

anc84 10y ago

tl;dr: Nothing long-term, but pain neurons might die off by prolonged/repeated exposure based on animal tests.

mike_hock 10y ago
Meaning your tolerance doesn't wear off, and you only become more bad ass the more you keep eating close to your tolerance level.

steanne 10y ago

http://www.jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679(16)30256-6/abstract http://www.jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679(16)30256-6/abs...

JonnieCache 10y ago

The resturant they're talking about is Burger Off, in Hove. They famously make you sign a disclaimer before you eat the burger. I've seen several people attempt it, and they've all regretted the decision. Brighton also has an annual chilli festival. There's a chilli eating competition, and paramedics are often needed by the losers, sometimes the winners. It's a bit stupid really, a bit like the teenage-boyish pursuit of unnecessarily strong marijuana, but whatever floats your boat I suppose.

pcunite 10y ago

When I was a kid, I sat across from a guy eating chips and salsa with sweat pouring down his face. I asked him if it was hot (pointing to the sause) and he snapped back, "No!". To my surprise, I read about him in a local newspaper a few years ago. He apparently died from actually swallowing a lit charcoal covered in Pace Picante sauce. not a true story

huherto 10y ago

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.

teaearlgraycold 10y ago
The burn is an important part of the pepper experience. For some, building a tolerance to capsaicin is a hobby. They're not missing the point, they're just eating them for a different reason. And what's nice about building up an extreme tolerance to capsaicin is that afterwards you are able to better experience the flavor of peppers, without focusing entirely on the heat.
- elboru 10y ago
  Exactly that's why it's common in Mexican recipes to leave seeds, it's a totally different experience to eat Guacamole with and without pepper seeds.
  - duaneb 10y ago
    To my understanding, capsaicin is in the flesh around the seeds, but the seeds themselves are not spicy and tend to add sweetness. Is that correct?
    - markdown 10y ago
      I too have read that, but my experience is completely different. Nothing burns like the seeds.
      - mindcrime 10y ago
        That jibes with my experience. Leaving the seeds in seems to create a hotter dish.
    - 10y ago

alyandon 10y ago

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 without altering the flavor of the dish in question though. Habanero peppers on the other hand - have a wonderfully fruity flavor. I wish I had a bit more stamina with regards to eating them. :(

CalChris 10y ago
I cook with habs. The fumes are enough and I scrub after. But one hab in a jambalaya is quite tasty.
abakker 10y ago
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.
- aaroninsf 10y ago
  <-- would pay and suffer to experience this illusion!
  - blhack 10y ago
    Get yourself some "miracle berries" for something similar (although without the heat involved).
- sehr 10y ago
  chile pequin maybe?
- khedoros1 10y ago
  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.

SEJeff 10y ago

Short answer: yes Longer answer: yes, and it can wreck you http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/10/18/ghost-pepper-puts-hole-mans-esophagus/92350120/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/10/18/ghost-pepper-p...

blockoperation 10y ago
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.
- SEJeff 10y ago
  I'm a "food enthusiast" and have had raw + cooked ghost and scorpion peppers. Somewhere on YouTube there is a video of me making a proper ass of myself while crushing a scorpion/ghost/habanero hit wing challenge at Jake Melnicks in Chicago. I'm not ever gonna try the Carolina reapers as I don't see the point, but know they will rip you up pretty good. I always eat starchy or carby food before eating super spicy stuff and know it is genuinely no joke. It wouldn't be hard to get an ulcer or worse from some of those peppers.

Noseshine 10y ago

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 had to sign a release form before you got your burger (shown in [1]). As another ex-colleague of mine used to say: Good spicy food hurts twice... I only ever ate one tiny piece off a colleague's plate. Initially I thought "I feel nothing, what's the big deal?" I then spent a good part of the next half hour with my tongue hung out under flowing water from the faucet in the bathroom. The people I saw try it either ate very fast, to be finished before the full pain set in, or very, very slowly. Except for an Indian friend of mine, who seemed pretty unmoved and ate the whole burger normally. By the way, I don't remember the day of the week, but I always went there when the "Silicon Gulch Jazz Band" was playing [2][3]. Back then the (good) singer, an old guy (like all others in that band), played a washboard, really cool. The music was really good (the singing too) :-) [0] http://theswingindoor.com/habanero-burger-xxx/ http://theswingindoor.com/habanero-burger-xxx/ [1] https://www.yelp.com/biz/prince-of-wales-pub-san-mateo https://www.yelp.com/biz/prince-of-wales-pub-san-mateo [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mOPl4BXqD8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mOPl4BXqD8 [3] http://www.sgjazz.com/ http://www.sgjazz.com/

Raphmedia 10y ago
> 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.
- Noseshine 10y ago
  I know (and knew). It was pain control, not capsaicin control. Fortunately they had some disgusting Oreo-cookie like ice cream sandwich that I got in the end.
  - Raphmedia 10y ago

yoamro 10y ago

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

M_Grey 10y ago
You should submit that concept to some of the more daring Youtube channels, such as "Good Mythical Morning"... they might actually try it.
StavrosK 10y ago
Well, I have some old miracle fruit tablets and various spicy sauces I can try if you want... Probably not Ghost pepper, though.
- BobCat 10y ago
  Have you tried it yet? It's been a whole minute.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- M_Grey 10y ago
  I for one, would be interested in the results of that!
  - StavrosK 10y ago
    Alright, I tried it for you guys: I ate one miracle berry tablet (I think the recommended dose is half a tablet, but screw it). The tablets were pretty old, so after consuming it I tested with yoghurt to see if the results held up. Indeed, the yoghurt tasted like cream and was not sour at all, so the tablet was good. Afterwards, I tasted Sriracha sauce, Tapatio and Valentina Extra Hot. All sauces retained their usual taste, except there was no burning sensation in the tongue and mouth at all. However, the sauces retained their burning sensation in the throat, completely intact, as far as I can tell. I'm afraid that I didn't have a control spoonful of sauce before the tablet, because I didn't think of it, but I can have some once the tablet wears out. I seem to recall, though, that a spoonful of Sriracha does normally burn my tongue.

3stripe 10y ago

Some of the videos I've seen on YouTube look pretty darn painful.

jobvandervoort 10y ago

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_organoleptic_test 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

avar 10y ago
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.
- guitarbill 10y ago
  Isn't there going to be a huge sampling bias? I certainly refuse to eat Carolina Reaper, and can't be the only one.
  - nullc 10y ago
    No, the Scoville test is based on a comparison of diluted samples. Trials are rerun with increasing dilution until the testers cannot detect the sample, and the level of dilution determines the score.

zwieback 10y ago

Reviewing video games while eating hot peppers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTMIgyUZDDk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTMIgyUZDDk

spikels 10y ago

This article seems to say chilli peppers can't hurt you. However just a few days ago the Journal of Emergency Medicine reported that a ghost pepper (a very hot chilli pepper) caused an esophageal rupture - a serious and potentially life threatening injury. http://www.jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679(16)30256-6/fulltext?rss=yes http://www.jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679(16)30256-6/ful... Why is the BBC not aware of this? A simple search would have yielded a more timely, accurate and interesting story. Somewhat disappointing.

jjulius 10y ago
One could argue that it wasn't necessarily the pepper itself that tore the hole in that individual's esophagus. Rather it was the intense, repeated vomiting that caused the rupture. The pepper only caused the hole by proxy.
robryk 10y ago
Note that this is a very indirect way of harming someone: eating peppers has (likely) caused vomiting, violent vomiting has caused rupture of the esophagus. This is similar to saying that walking can cause fat embolism (a life threatening condition): while walking you can fracture one of the long bones in your leg (e.g. your femur). A rare complication of long bone fracture is fat embolism.
vhost- 10y ago
But was this due to the heat, acidity or some other characteristic of this cross? Or was it because he swallowed a pepper whole and it tore a hole because it went down sideways? You have to remember how much and how fast people shove things into their mouths during these contests... I can't find anything that tells me why it happened.
- robryk 10y ago
  It's because of strain while vomiting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boerhaave_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boerhaave_syndrome

jjawssd 10y ago

Fresh off the branch ghost peppers can cause terrible tissue damage for days similar to taking a shot of 192 proof alcohol except ghost peppers can have an incredibly deep and rich flavor for a few seconds before the burn becomes overwhelming. http://www.theliquorbarn.com/polmos-spirytus-rektyfikowany-192-proof-750ml/ http://www.theliquorbarn.com/polmos-spirytus-rektyfikowany-1... The stuff sold in stores diluted in vinegar simply can not compare to freshly grown ghost peppers. There really is an upper bound which humans can not safely handle physically. For freshly grown peppers this might just be several cubic millimeters of pepper.

byuu 10y ago

At least on Chrome, bbc.com is hijacking middle-clicks and opening them in the same window. Who there thought that was a good idea?! That's the first time I've seen that one. If you're a web designer, please do not do that.

teh_klev 10y ago
It's done that for years. The BBC UK news site is the same, hugely infuriating.

calvinbhai 10y ago

I'm not sure why people go for the heat. I'm from India and there are many hot/spicy options available. But most chili peppers are used for their flavor or color (e.g. Kashmiri Red Chilli powder is very red, less spicy) and varying the levels of heat/spiciness by adding more of less of it, instead of using the spiciest variety (like the ghost peppers that have caught the fancy of the west). I wish the flavor component had some kind of a quantifiable unit instead of the scoville units that has fueled this craze of feeling the burn. Don't fall for this tongue numbing "hottest wings/sauce in the world". Enjoy the flavor :)

croon 10y ago
Thank you. I know Sriracha became meme-levels of popular but I remember the first time I tasted it, thinking: "Oh shit, a hot sauce that actually adds a great taste". Being from a country where the only hot sauce for 20 years was tabasco, and eating vindaloo in a non-authentic Indian restaurant tasted nothing but mouth death. I still never buy "Ass reaper" sauces or anything with similarily ridiculous names, but I love getting as much of different chilis into dishes as I can for taste without ruining it with pain.
blhack 10y ago
People go for the heat because it's fun. In my refrigerator right now I have a variety of hot sauces ranging from ~100,000SHU (Scoville Heat Units[1]) to 1,500,000SHU. The 1.5M sauce is way, way, WAY too hot to eat regularly, but it is kindof fun to put it on something and then see if you can get through it or not. I would put it in the same vein as playing two podcasts at the same time and seeing if you can comprehend them both. It's stupid, but it's just silly to see if you can do it. [1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale
- mindcrime 10y ago
  Yeah, I use everything from jalapeno pepper to Carolina Reapers and everything in between at various times. I never make anything that's just plain loaded down with nothing but reapers, but I use a mix of peppers to make things that are really hot but also have a nice flavor. The heat just makes things interesting, but heat for its own sake isn't very interesting to me. You could buy pure, refined Capsaicin, but what's the point. It would taste disgusting, like "Dave's Insanity" which is hot but nasty. Here's a neat trick I like... combine Scotch Bonnet peppers (or pepper sauce) with the hotter stuff like Ghost Pepper, Trinidad Scorpion or Carolina Reaper. The Scotch Bonnets aren't terribly hot (a little less than Habanero) but taste really good... and then just a little bit of the other stuff to jack the heat up leaves the nice flavor while still making you sweat.

blhack 10y ago

By the way, if anybody is interested in some REALLY crazy heat, check this out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resiniferatoxin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resiniferatoxin

26 10y ago

In Cambodia we have these "bird's eye chilis" [1] and they're included in many dishes. How do these compare to some of the other chili peppers and sauces discussed here? I do have a high tolerance for heat (it's no problem to eat 20-30 of these in a dish, or eat them raw) but I'm not sure I could characterize their taste in any meaningful way. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird%27s_eye_chili https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird%27s_eye_chili

Maxious 10y ago
Thankfully a wikipedia editor has categorised the various articles based on the scale mentioned in the article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale#Capsicum_peppers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale#Capsicum_pepper... ie. bird's eye chilis 100,000–225,000 SHU vs ghost pepper 1,041,427 SHU

agentgt 10y ago

I used to be able to handle really hot peppers up in till college and then one day during college completely over did it . I'm not sure if that "day" was the cause of my increased sensitivity or if I just age related but now I can barely enjoy red pepper flakes. Oh it goes down just fine but later... later I'm writhing in pain rolling around in the bed at night ... and then later on the toilet ... well I think you know what happens next. As I get older it seems to get worse which seems like it shouldn't. Shouldn't the receptors be more tolerant? Or maybe it is more like allergens where there is a certain threshold and then once that threshold is exceed you become more and more sensitive (e.g. poison ivy does this). BTW capsaicin does have a theoretical LD 50 based on mice. So yeah if you eat enough it will probably kill you but it is an outrageous amount (~ 50-100mg/kg). You would have to have it extracted to do it (some one actually went ahead and did the math here on how many peppers: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6810/can-you-die-from-eating-chili-peppers http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6810/can-you-die...).

askvictor 10y ago
Not sure if this is related, but I developed a condition called 'Lichen Planus' in my mouth a couple of years ago, and now it hurts considerably when I eat even the slightest amount of chilli. Sour foods also hurt, but they're easier to wash away. Quite a shame as I used to enjoy a bit of heat.
asteli 10y ago
I had a similar experience. I grew up eating spicy food, with no issues whatsoever, aside from the topside burn. At 21 I experienced a tipping point wherein my gut became sensitive to spicy foods. I had to rethink my relationship with spicy food, else cope with the symptoms you describe. I am very curious what the physiological basis for this change is.

teekert 10y ago

But, hours or a day or so of very serious discomfort aside, there don’t seem to be long-term dangers, per se, in eating very hot peppers. Biologists have observed, however, that administering capsaicin over long periods of time in young mammals does result in the death of the pain neurons, Bryant says. Setting the neurons off repeatedly wears them out, and they don’t grow back. Pff had to almost read to the end for that.

tim333 10y ago

I seems you can hurt yourself - XXX Hot Chilli Burger of Hove has sent 5 people to hospital with it's 9.2 million Scoville burger. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577255/XXX-Hot-Chilli-Burger-fiery-FIVE-people-hospital-diners-sign-waiver-theyre-allowed-order-one.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577255/XXX-Hot-Chil...

a1a 10y ago

"Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_Law_of_Headlines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_Law_of_Headline...

dharma1 10y ago

You can pop as many as you like if you're a bird - https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_did_birds_adapt_to_eat_hot_peppers2 https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_did_birds_adapt_to_eat...

dmichulke 10y ago
Unfortunately, no bird will ever read this.