Hot peppers add flavor to food. However, when it’s too much, they can really burn your mouth. It’s important to know how spicy food can be, to avoid the embarrassing fate of chugging three pints of water in front of your girl during your date night.
Peppers: How Hot Are They?
Knowing which peppers are hot will teach you which kinds of foods to avoid. Foods that contain Jalapeno are not that hot, actually, but foods with Habanero are spicy. Below is a short list of the most popular hot peppers.
Jalapeno
According to the Scoville scale, you have to use 8,000 drops of sugar syrup to douse the heat of Jalapeno peppers. Although a lot of people think that it’s one of the hottest peppers, it’s actually one of the least hot peppers on the market.
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Cayenne
Cayenne pepper needs 50,000 drops of sugar syrup to even out the spiciness of this pepper.
Habanero
Habanero, on the other hand, needs 350,000 drops of sugar syrup, much higher than Cayenne.
Ghost Pepper
The hottest on the list, Ghost Pepper needs 1,000,000 drops (or a gallon) of sugar syrup to even out the heat of this notorious pepper. You might want to get a lot of heat dispersing foods and drinks ready before you try this pepper.
Handling the Heat of Peppers
You might misjudge the spiciness of your food when you eat it for the first time. Even when you know that the meal contains only Jalapeno peppers, you don’t know for sure how much the cook puts in your meal. So, it’s best to know how you can handle the spiciness of your meal to avoid screaming bloody murder during your dinner date.
Opposite the common belief, you should not drink water when you have consumed something really spicy. The water will just spread out the heat in your mouth, causing more pain. So, before downing a glass of water when your mouth is burning from hot peppers, think twice. Below are some things you should take when you have accidentally consumed spicy foods.
Dairy Products
Milk, cream cheese, and yogurt are great heat dispersers. Only about a cup of these dairy products can ease the burning sensation in your mouth.
Citrus
Drinking lemonade or orange juice can also get rid of the burning sensation in your mouth when you accidentally consume hot peppers in your meal.
Fruit
Bananas, apples, and tomatoes can also alleviate the heat in your mouth.
When you know you’re about to eat spicy food, be sure to have one of the foods or drinks listed above. Regardless of how well you know your food, some restaurants may prepare foods hotter than usual. Also, learn which peppers are hot and which ones you can handle well so that you can enjoy various kinds of spicy meals.