Capsaicin: Is It Hot?

Here’s a fun one for all of you who grow—and especially eat—peppers.

Did you know that capsaicin, the compound that makes peppers “hot,” isn’t actually hot at all?

It’s true: Capsaicin has no thermal heat whatsoever. It doesn’t raise the temperature of your mouth or burn your skin. Your body reacts to it as if it’s been burned, but the sensation is purely perception—your nervous system is firing off a false alarm.

Capsaicin binds to nerve receptors, the same receptors your body uses to detect actual heat and physical burning. You may even have a physical burn response like swelling, flushing, or tearing up, but at normal culinary levels—think jalapeño or even habanero—it isn’t doing any physical harm.

I know it’s wild, right? And at this point you think I’m crazy, but I’m not.

Capsaicin tricks your mind into thinking you have put yourself directly over a flame, and while your body reacts to that, it’s not causing any physical burn at all. It would actually take a very high concentration of capsaicin—one far beyond that found in peppers we typically consume—in order to do any real damage to you.

The real kicker is this “heat” generally only affects mammals. It doesn’t “bind” to the receptors in birds. They can eat the seeds all day long—even from some of the hottest peppers—and usually never feel a thing.

Capsaicin is a trickster, one of nature’s amazing defense mechanisms designed to keep animals (including us) from eating the seeds and fruits, but allowing the plants to proliferate.

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