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 Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…