Q: Dave,In looking around for the best hot sauce, I have come across many of these sauces with Scoville ratings of 1,000,000 and even up to 16,000,000 (pure capsaicin). While I know these are food additives only, and I would never attempt to taste them on their own, what are the dangers to the body? And at what levels would …
Looking for Sweat-Inducing Chile
Q: Dave,I know that peppers produce varying degrees of heat, as indicative on the Scoville scale. But is there any information on what type of pepper produces a specific reaction? I am looking for a sauce/pepper that invokes sweat as opposed to a mouth burn.–Manny A: Hello Manny:It doesn’t really work that way. Different people react differently to various chiles. …
Tomato Acid Counteracts Capsaicin
Q: Dave,If you handle peppers with your bare hands, you can remove most, if not all, of the heat with a halved tomato. Just rub it all over your hands as if it were a bar of soap, then rinse. I thought it was a screwy idea at first too, but I tried it recently after cutting up a bunch …
Bloody Nose Thanks to Superhot Sauce
Q: Hey Dave,My good friend brought home some Dave’s Insanity Sauce, and thought it would be good to bring it to the family BBQ. He boasted how hot it was and his mother-in-law, thinking it couldn’t be that bad, soaked an onion ring in it, popped it into her mouth, and almost immediately got a bloody nose (of course followed …
Fact Check: Is Capsaicin a Painkiller?
Q: Dear Dave,Help! I’m a fact checker at Seventeen magazine and it’s my job to double check that what we put in the magazine is correct. Seventeen is geared to college-aged women and we have an upcoming article about what might help if you stay up late partying or pull an all-nighter. For a tip, the writer says, "Have eggs …