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From: nemo@rochester.UUCP (Wolfe)
Newsgroups: net.cooks
Subject: Re: hot pepper oil, etc.
Message-ID: <10281@rochester.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 19-Jun-85 16:44:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: rocheste.10281
Posted: Wed Jun 19 16:44:00 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Jun-85 04:14:09 EDT
References: <3041@drutx.UUCP>
Organization: U. of Rochester, CS Dept.
Lines: 35

> >	                   The basic substance of "hotness" in pepper oil
> >and many other hot items is capsacin. Capsacin is lipid soluble, not water
> >soluble. So water by itself is not very effective in removing it. Try some-
> >thing with more lipid in it, like milk, or oil. This is also why yogurt is
> >an effective quencher served at indian restaurants.
> Very true!  That's why I like milk with Mexican food.  Not as classic
> as beer, but if you are eating very hot stuff, milk clears the mouth
> much more effectively.
>                                      Sue Brezden
This month's Scientific American has a review in the book section of what
appears to be a contemporary classic on peppers (for shame!  I have forgotten
the author's name; she is a chemist, artist, gardener and cook in Texas).
She figured out that 1 part household bleach to 5 parts water should remove
and destroy any capsacin on your hands (be sure to rinse well afterwards).
I plan on getting the book.
For oral antidotes to excessive pepper, I recall the cure for aji I found
in a small Peruvian restaurant.  Aji is a sauce, apparently made of pureed
very hot peppers ("ah-HEE" was probably the first sound anyone coming in
contact with them made, thereby giving the pepper and the sauce their name).
It is orangish in color, and my first try of five drops on my entire dinner
was way too much.  Back to the point... they also served some cookies called
"alfajores" (sp?), consisting of two shortbread-like disks sandwiching a
layer of caramelized condensed milk (it looked kind of like translucent
peanut butter, but they assured me that it was slowly heated condensed milk,
which browns and thickens).  The starchy, oily (lipids!) cookies stopped the
burning sensation in a matter of a minute or two.  SO try some shortbread
the next time you wish you had had a lighter hand with the peppers.
Nemo
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