by Dave DeWitt Excerpted from The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia (William Morrow & Co., 1999). The sensation of heat created by capsaicin in chiles is caused by the irritation of the trigeminal cells, which are pain receptors located in the mouth, nose, and stomach. These sensory neurons release substance P, a neuropeptide chemical messenger that tells the brain about pain …
Capsaicin Update
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
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 …
Out of the Ash: The Prehistoric Chile Cuisine of Cerén
By Dave DeWitt On an August evening in A.D. 595, the Loma Caldera in what is now El Salvador erupted, sending clouds of volcanic ash into the Mayan agricultural village of Cerén, burying it twenty feet deep and turning it into the New World equivalent of Pompeii. Miraculously, all the villagers escaped, but what they left behind gives us a …
Chile Peppers in Legend and Lore
By Dave DeWitt The ritual uses of the genus Capsicum range from the innocuous to the murderous, but the fiery pods are always powerful. In astrology, Capsicums fall under the dominion of Mars, ancient god of war, so that should be some indication of respect. Fuentes y Guzmán wrote in 1690 that those who frequently ate red pepper were protected …