Capsaicin Update

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 by Dave DeWitt   “I think we need to extract the capsaicin first”     The chemical that makes chile peppers hot is becoming more popular every day in applications that range from the strange to the ingenious. In 1995, Jack Challem wrote in The Nutrition Reporter that more than 1,300 studies on capsaicin had been published in medical journals …

The Nature of Capsaicin

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 by Dave DeWitt           The active principle that causes the heat in chile peppers is a crystalline alkaloid generically called capsaicin. It is produced by glands at the junction of the placenta and the pod wall. The capsaicin spreads unevenly throughout the inside of the pod and is concentrated mostly in the placental tissue. Capsaicin is …

2001 Scoville Heat Levels Reported

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By Dave DeWitt   The Chile Pepper Institute of New Mexico State University has reported on the pungency levels of some of the chile varieties grown in the 2001 Demonstration and Teaching Garden. Dr. Paul Bosland, director of the Institute, cautioned that these heat levels are the result of a single test of chiles grown in that specific environment and …