Chili peppers are eaten by a quarter of the earth’s population every day, in countries all over the globe. They are perennial shrubs belonging to theCapsicumfamily, and were completely unknown to most of the world until Christopher Columbus made his way to the New World in 1492.

class 8

When I was in Portugal,stuffing my faceandlosing my socks, I keptthinking back to the powerful chili and how its popularitybegan with the trade routesthat shuttled between colonies of thePortuguese empire. The history of the chili pepper is one of the more interesting examples of a simple, powerful food with a complex story.

The history of chili peppers begins inMesoamerica

Chili peppers are eaten by a quarter of the earth’s population every day, in countries all over the globe. They are perennial shrubs belonging to theCapsicumfamily, and were completely unknown to most of the world until Christopher Columbus made his way to the New World in 1492.

Why does eating chili peppers make your mouth burn?

Before we move onto the history: a brief foray in the pain factor. The burning and pain you feel when you eat a chili pepper is caused by a compound called capsaicin. Consuming capsaicin triggers pain receptors in the body to send out a warning to you that you’vepotentiallydone something a little dangerous.

The active ingredient in chili peppers is a compound called capsaicin. When ingested, capsaicin triggers pain receptors whose normal evolutionary purpose is to alert the body to dangerous physical heat. In humans, this is triggered via the same mechanism that helps us drop a hot pan if we forget oven mits: the temperature sensation receptor TRPV1.

The working theory is that eating chilies gives us the same sensation as if we were to actually eat too-hot bite of food, hence the burn. The TRPV1 receptor signalling may make usfeellike perhaps our mouths are on actual fire, but scientists saythere isn’t any tissue damage. It’s a brain hiccup: via those pain receptors, our brain is tricked into thinking our tongue is on fire.

When I was in Portugal,stuffing my faceandlosing my socks, I keptthinking back to the powerful chili and how its popularitybegan with the trade routesthat shuttled between colonies of thePortuguese empire. The history of the chili pepper is one of the more interesting examples of a simple, powerful food with a complex story.

The history of chili peppers begins inMesoamerica

Chili peppers are eaten by a quarter of the earth’s population every day, in countries all over the globe. They are perennial shrubs belonging to theCapsicumfamily, and were completely unknown to most of the world until Christopher Columbus made his way to the New World in 1492.

Why does eating chili peppers make your mouth burn?

Before we move onto the history: a brief foray in the pain factor. The burning and pain you feel when you eat a chili pepper is caused by a compound called capsaicin. Consuming capsaicin triggers pain receptors in the body to send out a warning to you that you’vepotentiallydone something a little dangerous.

The active ingredient in chili peppers is a compound called capsaicin. When ingested, capsaicin triggers pain receptors whose normal evolutionary purpose is to alert the body to dangerous physical heat. In humans, this is triggered via the same mechanism that helps us drop a hot pan if we forget oven mits: the temperature sensation receptor TRPV1.

The working theory is that eating chilies gives us the same sensation as if we were to actually eat too-hot bite of food, hence the burn. The TRPV1 receptor signalling may make usfeellike perhaps our mouths are on actual fire, but scientists saythere isn’t any tissue damage. It’s a brain hiccup: via those pain receptors, our brain is tricked into thinking our tongue is on fire.