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If you’re a spicy tuna roll lover, you’ve come to the right place! Sushi + spicy is a popular combo that can be found on almost any sushi menu. Japanese cuisine tends not to be particularly spicy, with a focus on whole, fresh ingredients. Wasabi is a well-known spicy ingredient often paired with sushi, but…
Peppers are an incredibly versatile and popular vegetable due to their flavor, texture, and vibrant colors. They are commonly eaten both raw and cooked — but which is hotter? Stick around to learn the differences between cooked and raw peppers and delve deeper into how cooking can affect their spiciness. What is the spiciest part…
While I’m a big spicy food fanatic, there are times when even I overdo it. Capsaicin, the main spicy ingredient that we are familiar with, activates nerve endings in the mouth and throat that are responsible for the sensation of heat or burning. The more capsaicin a food contains, the spicier it is! If you’ve…
Bell peppers are the most popular pepper in the United States and can be used in many dishes and recipes. They are a great way to add flavor, color, and crunch to any meal. While some may love their mild flavor, others crave the heat of hot peppers instead. While usually considered a mild pepper,…
There’s a reason that you often see chefs chopping hot peppers with gloves. Beyond basic hygiene, gloves protect you from a condition commonly referred to as “hot pepper hands”. Read on to learn what causes hot pepper hands, how long the burning will last, and home remedies for reducing the burn. What are “hot pepper…
When it comes to home remedies for sore throats, there are endless options — some tried and true, and some completely unfounded. One popular remedy is hot sauce. It sounds weird because hot sauce causes pain, so why would you add fuel to the fire when you already have a sore throat? Read on to…
Capsicum and capsaicin are similar terms that are often confused with one another — but they actually refer to completely different things. Both terms relate to chili peppers but in different ways! Read on to learn the difference between capsicum and capsaicin, and what each word means. Capsicum vs. capsaicin — differences between the two…
With the highest-ever levels of interest in hot sauce and spicy foods and strong market growth, 2022 is shaping up to be a great year for spice lovers. These new novelty spicy food products prove that even the biggest brands are jumping on the spicy bandwagon. But be quick to grab them, they are all…
From saucing up a BLT to adding extra heat to a bowl of chili, we all love hot sauce. And it’s easy to make your own! With a long list of ingredients, equipment, and bottling components, making your own hot sauce can seem like a big undertaking. Luckily there are easy DIY-friendly kits that you…
It’s no secret that people love spicy food. With Flamin’ Hot Mountain Dew dominating grocery store shelves since April, a new spicy breakfast cereal launched in August, and Zaxby’s “hot sauce popsicle” stunt, it’s clear that brands are taking note. We combined insights from market research reports published in 2022 with Google Trends and new…
If you were to ask a group of people whether peppers are a fruit or a vegetable, you would probably get various completely different answers. Some might say peppers are a vegetable because they are typically used in savory dishes. Others might say that peppers are a fruit because they contain seeds. So, what is…
Looking for fun chili pepper facts to share with your friends or use in your trivia night? Here are a few of our favorite stats and facts about peppers: Jalapeños are the most popular hot pepper in the US, accounting for 5.4% of all peppers The most popular hot pepper in the US is jalapeños….
The spiciest wasabi I’ve ever eaten was a single-serving condiment packet that I had in a hotel buffet in China. Anyone who has had HOT wasabi will tell you, it’s extremely spicy, and might even be compared to the spiciest of peppers. But how spicy actually is it? Where does wasabi fall on the Scoville…
Do you know someone who makes spicy food their entire personality? I think we all do. I can be guilty of being that person too, which makes me exceptionally qualified to recommend products that the spicy food lovers in your life will LOVE. Here are my top picks for the holidays in 2022. Note: This…
Sometimes your body and brain just scream for something spicy — fiery enchiladas, flaming curry, or hot sauce-doused anything. But what does it mean when you have an intense craving for spicy food? We dug into the research to help you understand what your body and brain tell you when you crave something spicy. What…
A bite of raw onion will instantly have your tongue burning and your eyes watering. But onions aren’t the “same kind” of spicy as chili peppers — so what makes them so hot? Do onions have capsaicin? Onions do not have any capsaicin. In fact, there are very few plants or vegetables other than chili…
When you think hot sauce, your mind probably jumps to spicy wings, stuffed burritos, and scintillating sriracha. But surprisingly, hot sauce is also often paired with fruit. Many hot sauces use fruit as an ingredient to round out the spicy with a touch of sweetness, and in some parts of the world, people put hot…
There are a variety of situations where you might consider applying cayenne pepper to your yard. Cayenne pepper is high in capsaicin, which is the chemical compound that makes chili peppers spicy. And after all, chili peppers developed this spice to deter it from being eaten — so many people apply cayenne to their yard…
Anyone who has ever accidentally bitten into a piece of peppercorn knows: black pepper can be SPICY! But black pepper, botanically speaking, is a dried berry, and not related to chili peppers, the main type of plant that has capsaicin. So does black pepper have capsaicin, and if not, then what makes it spicy? Black…
We all know that capsaicin is the spicy-making chemical found in hot chili peppers — so we won’t go into too much detail on that. But did you know that it’s also found in non-spicy peppers and a few other types of plants? Read on to learn what foods, in addition to chili peppers, have…
Spicy buffalo wings are one of my all-time favorite finger foods! They combine irresistible spice, fattiness, and sourness, with juicy, crisp chicken wings. The standard buffalo sauce recipe consists of just a few ingredients: hot sauce, butter, sometimes a sweetener like honey, and sometimes a thickener like cornstarch. But what happens if you don’t eat…
Capsaicin is the natural chemical found in chili peppers that makes them HOT. There is no commercially available product that is 100% pure capsaicin, but products labeled as “pure capsaicin” typically range from 96%-99% purity. Pure capsaicin is sold in a powder or liquid form as an extract, intended for scientific and medical use or…
Many people who love spicy food, refer to it casually as an addiction. But can you actually get addicted to hot foods? First of all, let’s make sure we all have the same understanding of what addiction is. In a clinical sense, addiction isn’t just something you are motivated to do again and again because…
I eat salsa just about every day with my eggs, and often for dinner as well in taco bowls and burritos. But salsas that you can buy at the store can’t come close to the deliciousness of homemade salsa. When I started growing puma peppers at home, I knew I needed to develop a salsa…