Hot Hot Heat
Play with fire and reap the rewards unscorched
With global sales of hot sauce ablaze (and ketchup falling from favour) our passionate love affair with chilli shows no sign of abating. But whether you like it mild and tropical or full-on thermogenic, the capsicum is a dangerous fruit to know. This is a guide to help you play with fire and reap the nutritional benefits – without getting singed
We are all gluttons for punishment – science says so. By purposefully, gleefully partaking in a chilli’s fiery burn, we are the only species that actively seeks out what traditional animal instinct would classify as A Very Bad Thing. Put simply, chillies aren’t supposed to be eaten. Capsaicin – the active compound that binds to the receptors on your tongue, tricking the brain into believing your mouth is actually aflame – is the atomic bomb in the chilli plant’s survival arsenal. Despite this, from south- east Asia to Mesoamerica and Eastern Europe, we have been dining out on these explosives since at least 7000BC. Today, a string of UK chilli farms – exporting to the likes of Mexico and Pakistan – bolster the economy to the
tune of £1.3 million per year. The UK hot sauce market, meanwhile, is currently valued at an estimated £17 million annually. So what’s going on?
Paul Rozin, a psychologist from the University of Pennsylvania, who has studied chilli- eating behaviour since the 1980s, calls it “benign masochism” – the process by which we teach ourselves to enjoy their hostile heat. More recently, Penn State University researchers John Hayes and Nadia Byrnes devised tests that revealed chilli lovers to be, in effect, “sensation seekers” – people searching recklessly for thrills, exhilaration and reward. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they also found hardcore chilliheads were more likely to be men.
But there’s evidently more to it than just machismo and posturing. As anyone who has endured (or embraced) the sting of a bhut jolokia, moruga scorpion or naga viper can attest, even the most spiteful of varieties can induce an almost transcendental state, focusing the mind solely on the heat scorching the walls of the mouth and the resulting endorphin rush. You don’t get that from a bag of kale chips.
And when you consider a chilli’s analgesic properties, its iron content, myriad vitamins and antioxidants with implications for weightloss, cancer-prevention and longevity… come on, what’s not to like? This is our manual to the nutritional love that hurts. From an informative anatomy of the beast and gut-searing sauce and rub recipes, to the hottest chillies known to man and tips on how to rescue a meal when you’ve really overdone it, consider this a handbook for connoisseurs on how to bring the heat. And if ever you are tempted to forego the flames, remember: there’s no gain without a little pain.