Many people love chile peppers, the hotter the better

Some Like Them Hot, Some Not

A chile pepper’s heat comes from capsaicin. It’s what causes the burning sensation when chile peppers encounter tissue. Biological studies show that it also activates heat receptors in the human mouth (just as menthol activates cold receptors). Capsaicin is a molecule that occurs naturally in peppers and likely evolved to deter mammals from eating them. It appears to not have deterred humans much, however. Many people love chile peppers, the hotter the better. One of the easiest ways to tone down a chile pepper’s heat, if desired, is by removing the seeds and inner ribs, which will significantly decrease the total capsaicin level of the pepper.

How Hot is Hot?

The Scoville heat scale (developed in 1912) is the oldest and most referenced method of measuring pepper heat. The testing method is simple: a panel of five or more judges is subjected to a taste test featuring the paste form of each pepper that has been diluted with sugar syrup. The degree of dilution required for the judges not to detect any capsaicin in the mixture determines each pepper’s rating on the scale. Despite its inherent subjectivity, this scale is still a useful way of ranking peppers relative to other peppers.