WEBVTT - How Chili Peppers Work 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:04.200 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from House Stuff Works 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:13.000 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:16.960 There's Charles w Chuck Barnett, and Jerry and that makes 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:21.760 this stuff you should Know. I was so gonna quote 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:25.560 the Red Hot Chilie Peppers, the band they apparently used 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:31.440 them at Guantanamo Bay to torture prisoners. Really yeah, that 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:35.239 surprises me. I know, usually that's like I've heard of 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:38.080 stories like that. Usually it's some kind of dark metal 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:42.159 or something like super Starling vocal band. Some might say abrasive, 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:45.280 some might I think it's very soothing to hear death metal. Supposedly, 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.320 there's a study out there, the head of ridiculously small 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:52.720 study population that found that it's calming has a calling 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:56.360 influence metal music does paid for by the Metal Association 0:00:56.720 --> 0:01:00.680 of North America Scandinavia. Uh yeah, kind of surprised they 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.960 played the Chili Peppers since, uh, it's pretty easy on 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:06.800 the ears, isn't it. Well, one of the songs with 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:10.640 California Cation. The other later stuff isn't as good. I 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:14.400 could go a little crazy with that one. I'll talk. 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:18.200 What were you going to quote? I was gonna say, 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:20.160 give it away, Give it away now or something like that, 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:23.800 or fight like a Brave. I haven't heard that one. 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:26.920 That's early stuff you get to say, like under the 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:32.520 Bridge downtown. Yeah, I ate a chili pepper. I actually 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:37.760 read his biography. I guess it was an autobiography, Anthony Keatis, 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:40.280 because I was he writing about himself. Yeah. I was 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:42.600 just going through a kick where I was reading music 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:47.360 autobiographies of for just rock star stories. Didn't you recommend 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:52.480 the more by the best? Which one was it? Uh? 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:56.760 There's one, um quintessential one. I can't remember what it's called, 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:00.200 the Quintessential Crew. Yeah, just look at I mean it's 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.840 that's not an autobiography, that's just a biography. Yeah, but 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:04.600 that one's really good. The Slash one is good and 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:08.120 the Keyest one is good. Man, he that guy. He 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:13.800 had troubles, oh yeah, just bad drug troubles and woman 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.600 troubles over and over and over. But he's good now. 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:20.680 Well good for him. Yeah, welcome back to the fray, 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:24.760 Anthony Keynes. That's what I say. So we're not talking 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.359 about the red hot chili peppers. We're talking about red 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:31.160 hot chili peppers, right, not the right We're talking about 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:34.160 chili peppers, depending on where you are in the world, 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:37.600 c h I l I peppers or c h I 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:41.560 L E peppers or just chilies. Yeah, you can say that. 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:44.799 I think a lot of chefs just call them chilies. Well, yeah, 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.119 because they're like, they don't waste words. No, they don't 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:52.720 say peppers. It's a couple of extra syllables. Yeah, exactly, No, chef, 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:57.040 give me some of those chilies. Uh. It is the 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:02.639 bell pepper and the celery stalk and the onion. It's 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:06.680 part of the trinity of I guess you would call 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:11.240 it nolange cooking. Sure, the bell pepper is a chili pepper. 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:15.799 It's just um, a non hot chili pepper, but it's 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:19.800 still the same thing. Um. And it turns out that 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:23.079 we get that terminology chili. It actually was used by 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:27.840 the Aztecs or the Triple Alliance and Mesoamerica, the Triple 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:32.040 Indy's the Triple Alliance prior to the arrival of Columbus. 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.800 And it was Columbus himself where we get the the 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:42.440 misnomer chili pepper, because Columbus can that guy get anything right. 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:46.520 So he comes across the chili pepper and decides that 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:48.960 it must be a relative of the black pepper, with 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:51.360 which he and the rest of Europe are already very familiar. 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:54.040 So he calls it the chili pepper because he hears 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.520 up in Mexico they call it chili's. It's what the 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.720 Triple Alliance calls it. So that's where it came from, 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:03.680 chili peppers. But it has no relation whatsoever to the 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:08.119 chili or the pepper. The black pepper um and it's 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.240 been around. It's actually one of the oldest domesticated crops 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:14.720 in the America's actually, yeah, it started out in South 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:18.280 America about six thousand years ago. I saw nine thousand, 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:23.440 let's stay between five and twelve. Uh. And they don't 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:26.200 know whether it was Bolivia or Brazil. There's a heated 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:30.160 debate in the pepper community on the country of origin, 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:32.800 but they do know that birds are the ones who 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:36.200 disperse them, and birds can't feel heat in their mouth. 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:40.080 They carry them around and propagate the seeds. And uh. 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:43.440 Then Columbus, of course brought them to Europe, and that's 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:45.800 something spread. That's why you can use hot sauce or 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:48.160 chili pepper spray or something like that on your bird 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:53.080 seed to deter squirrels. Yeah, because the birds are fine, 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:59.080 but the squirrels. And it says here the birds can't 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:03.040 digest PEPPERSI but nobody can really digest pepper seeds. If 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.120 I can whole, I totally can't know you can't. I 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:08.480 will show you right now. You can show me your stool. 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.440 Uh No, we can't digest them either because we don't 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:18.160 digest seeds that aren't chewed because they're covered in cellulose 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.320 and it just goes straight through to our poop. Exactly 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:24.400 same with corn. Yeah, because that is a seed. It is. 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:27.720 I'm glad you finally said that somebody needed to say. 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:31.320 I think that's one of the trendy facts. Don't you 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.919 think that corn is a seed? Yeah? Yeah, probably seems 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:37.719 like I saw that all over the internet. It's pretty 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:41.800 hot right now. Corn and poop. It's a hot topic. So, um, 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:46.440 I did a dump be dumb on that on hot topics. Man, 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:50.200 No corn, corn and you poop? Yep? Yeah, see hot topic. 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:55.680 So um Columbus brings the stuff back and it spreads 0:05:56.120 --> 0:06:00.000 like crazy like syphilis. Yeah, because think about this, um, 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:04.880 chili peppers, we're are native to the America's and we're 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:09.280 unknown outside of the America's until about five hundred or 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:12.960 so years ago. Now they're grown in just about every 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:18.279 country in the world. Um. There's all different types of varieties. Um. 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:22.440 But it turns out that there's twenty five wild species 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:28.080 and five domesticated species. And one of them. Noteworthy things 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:31.720 about chili peppers is most of the time, when humans 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:37.040 domesticated a wild crop, they would stop using the wild 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:40.040 version of it because it was just so far inferior 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:44.719 to the domesticated version. Not so with with um chilies. 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:47.839 Wild chilies are just as prized, if not more prized, 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:52.599 than the domesticated ones. So there's five species chuck. And 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:54.720 by the way, chili peppers blowing to the night shade 0:06:54.720 --> 0:07:02.479 family with potatoes, tomatoes, gojiberries, eggplants in nightshade yep, and um. 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:06.880 The five species are fun to say. Yeah, I wasn't 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:08.960 even gonna do it, but I encourage you too, Okay, 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:18.280 Uh kep Cicum and you um keep ciccum, kept cicum frutescents, 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:24.080 kept scumb but cadam and kept Cicum pubescence does have 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:30.120 little hairs on them. I saw that one coming. So 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:34.440 those are the five families. Uh, peppers are generally hot, 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:36.520 although we'll get into all that with the varieties. Like 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:38.880 you said the bells, everyone knows bells aren't very hot. 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:41.640 But um, what you're talking about with the heat is 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:46.440 what's called their pungency. And the heat actually uh comes 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:50.080 from alkaloids present in the peppers called cap sasan yes, 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:55.560 which we talked about in December the pepper pepper spray episode, 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.640 because that's the cap that's what they're using in pepper spray. 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:00.880 If you didn't listen to it, check it out. It's 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:03.400 a good one. But yeah, it's kind of funny to 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:08.560 think about defense. Self defense tool is really just uh, 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:13.440 canned hot pepper. Yeah, because that stuff can be It works, Yeah, 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:18.120 it really does work. Um. And with with the the 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.640 pungency of a pepper, most people think that it's found 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:24.280 in the seeds. That's actually a myth. Well, it is 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:26.560 found in the seeds, it's not housed in the seeds, right, 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:29.200 So the seeds are attached to the pepper itself through 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.480 something called the placenta. It's a membrane that white stuff 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:36.520 that's inside of a pepper, right, and that's where the 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:42.640 capsaan um is is stored. Um and since the seeds 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.840 are attached to the membrane, a lot of that stuff 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.920 makes it way its way to the seeds. But if 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.319 you really want the high heat, you eat the membrane. 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:53.800 If you want want the high heat, just eat the 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.640 whole thing. H D seed and D membrane mine. But 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:02.160 if you're looking for heat, then don't even sweat it. Literally, 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:04.640 don't sweat it. That's yeah, that's like the second at 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:08.040 least pun that you've made. Oh yeah, yeah, well was 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:11.240 the first one? Something was They were both accidental hot. 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.719 I can't remember what it was. Well, those are just words. No, 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:18.839 it was perfect, It was really great. Uh So the 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:22.160 pain is actually not coming from your taste buds because 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:26.400 they don't feel pain. It's coming from pain receptors in 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:30.000 your mouth, and it sends a message to your to 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.880 your brain saying this is super hot. I wouldn't eat 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.680 that much unless you like it. Right. It's the same 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:41.600 pain receptors that UM tell you that say the sip 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:44.800 of coffee you just took is too hot, or like 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.560 something is thermally too hot. It's triggered by cap sason. 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.840 It's the t r p V one receptor and that 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:54.839 triggers the release of a neuro transmitter called substance P 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:59.800 and that's cap sastion can also block. What's crazy is yes, 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:03.880 so the it's well when we'll talk about it a 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.040 little more later. But cap sason is used as a 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:11.880 topical pain reliever, right like Shaquille O'Neal knows that he 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:17.920 does he uh, I think yeah, Um, So cap sasan 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:20.920 If you rub it on the skin, it goes to 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:26.840 those TRPV one receptors and basically overloads them so thoroughly 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:29.760 that they're no longer able to transmit the sensation of 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.840 pain in that area. So it's a local anesthetic. Yeah, 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.640 it's pretty cool. Yeah it is. Uh, And lots of 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.360 other health benefits we'll talk about. Peppers are great for you. 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:42.160 Peppers are super Uh. They do not cause ulcers, that 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.360 is a myth um and in fact, they protect the 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:49.360 stomach lining or can and they can also thin the blood, 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:51.120 so you need to watch out for that if you 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.640 are on an anticoagulant. Yeah. I don't know if they 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:58.959 say that on the prescription or not, but the pepper prescription, 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:05.680 no m prescribe to it in Alabania today. No, the 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:10.760 anticoagulant prescription. Of course it might. But if you are 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:14.240 in a contest or just at dinner and your mouth 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:18.520 becomes inflamed, um, don't. Well, you can drink water. I 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:22.640 think it provides a temporary respite. I don't know if 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:25.000 it even does that. It does for me. It basically 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:30.040 smooths the stuff around and throughout your mouth, which is 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:34.560 not good. What you want is something fatty like milk. Yeah, 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:39.120 because cap sasan dissolves in the presence of fats or 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:41.120 like um, if you eat a lot of Mexican food 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:43.760 or Indian food, Um, that that sour cream and that 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.559 yogurt is a nice way to smooth that out. That's 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:49.920 what it's there for. Baby. Well, that in taste and 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:54.440 in flavor and texture and everything else. Yeah, I guess. So. Yeah, 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.120 it's not like they're, like you said, some sour cream 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:00.360 because this is too hot, but it definitely helps. I 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:03.400 read an article actually with a guy who was in 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:07.840 a contest and he was a hot pepper guy, and 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:11.880 he described I think he ate like three ghost peppers 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:17.160 just in twenty seconds, and he was fine at first. 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.040 Then it got hot like in it not in his mouth, 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:24.280 but in his throat and then, um, he just kept 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:26.080 going through waves like he said it would go away, 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:27.880 and I thought it was good, and he's like an 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.280 hour later, it felt like a red hot burning nickel 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:33.560 on my stern um and it was just moving and 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.960 sway down, I guess. And then he said he felt jubilation, 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.760 like exhilaration, which we'll talk about this one of the 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:42.720 effects of peppers that can you know, pick up your mood. 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:45.240 But he said he was just like I felt like 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:49.760 he was on cocaine. Weird. Yeah, yeah, because they trigger 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.880 a release of endorphins exactly, so you can get a 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.439 runners high or some sort of high off of eating pepper, 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.240 which is why some people eat peppers. They really makes 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:01.720 him feel great. Yeah, I guess this guy wasn't a runner. 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:04.319 He must have just done some cocaine before his line, right, 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.720 that was his god too. And um, so you said 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:12.280 that birds are immune to the effects of peppers, and 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:15.679 they also spread the seed by pooping it out right, Um, 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.080 mammals are not immune to the effects of it, including humans, 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.200 and apparently humans are the only mammals that purposefully eat peppers, 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:27.360 and it's been called a form of benign masochism. Yeah, 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:30.680 but it makes sense if um. And the reason why 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.520 they think peppers have that kind of burning thing is 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:38.199 is to protect itself, to ward off mammals from eating it. Um. 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:42.080 But the the idea that we can get some sort 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:45.480 of rush from it, it's kind of counterintuitive if you 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.079 think about it as far as evolution goes from the 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:52.120 pepper standpoint, because that encourages people to keep eating you. 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.960 That's a good point. All right, Well, let's take a 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:57.480 break here and we'll come back and talk a little 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:01.520 bit about how the heat is measured in a hot pepper. 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:19.120 You know, all right, I guess we need to talk 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:25.160 about uh Scoville. Mr Scoville was your doctor. He's a pharmacist. Yeah, 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:26.760 but I wondered if he was a doctor. I think 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:32.000 he got an honorary doctorate. He deserved one. You count those? Uh? Sure, 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:34.920 all right, probably depends on where it's from, what it's for, 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:39.080 but sure, yeah, I would. I want to be like 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:43.920 you can call me doctor Mr Clark, doctor Mr. Uh. 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:47.680 He was a pharmacist, like you said, who developed um 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:52.800 something called the Scoville organ elliptic test in nineteen twelve, 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:57.600 and uh, what is this? A hilarious name for what 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:00.360 is it is kind of weird, isn't it should just 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.280 call it the chili test or something. It just made 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.560 me laugh like a goon a. Well. Previous to this 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:08.320 test um, the only test was basically just to have 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:13.200 people eat them and ask them how hot? It's pretty hot? Okay, 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:16.800 that's a pretty hot pepper. Give me some milk fat, right, 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.440 technically pork fat whatever. You just need a slab of 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:22.800 fat and then get rid of it real quick. Yeah. 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:25.000 They said chocolate too will help you. Well, it's a 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:28.000 fatty yeah, full of lipids. I think that's people just 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:33.720 like the eat chocolate. They're hot stuff. Uh So, Scofield says, 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:36.080 there's got to be a better way, and he says, 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.800 why don't we devise a test where we have people 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.480 eat peppers and ask them how hot it is? Pretty much, 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:43.320 but let's do it in a little bit different way. 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.960 Let's keep feeding them peppers that are more diluted until 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:50.320 they can't feel heat any longer, and just make it 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:54.640 a little more organized and formal. So the Scopeville, the 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.760 Scoville heat unit is what it comes up with, right, So, 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:00.920 for example, of bell pepper has a zero not hot, 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:03.920 but say Hoban euro some types of Hobban euro peppers 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:07.440 can get up to like five hundred thousand UM. I 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:11.360 think the red something, Oh what is it? I'm sorry, 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.400 the red Slavinia Haban euro pepper got up to five 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:18.120 hundred seventy thousand Scoville heat units. It's very hot. And 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:20.800 what that means is that it would take five hundred 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:25.120 and seventy thousand cups of water to dilute one cup 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.360 of extract from the red Slovenia Haban euro and one 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:32.440 shot of milk fat right before before anybody could say 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:35.680 I detect no heat whatsoever. So that's what the Yeah, 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:37.880 it's a tremendous amount of war. And it's not like 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:40.760 he was pouring a whole cup of this stuff into 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:44.120 five hundred and seventy thousand cups of water. I think 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:47.640 he just used fractions probably, So yeah, in a minute 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:49.520 to come to that conclusion, I was like, what kind 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:52.440 of bat did this guy have in his yard? A 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:56.600 big one? Uh? So that was the old test um. 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.600 And even though they no longer use that, they still 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:03.120 used a s h u Scoville heat unit as the 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:05.000 unit of measure, which I think is a nice little 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:07.240 tip of the cap it is because it could have 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:12.960 changed it. Wilbert Scoville's ghost is like, I approve. Uh. Now, 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:17.320 what they do is use liquid chromatography. Uh. And they've 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.159 been doing that since about the seventies. And that's not 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:25.639 specific to testing peppers. It's basically just separating and analyzing 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:28.720 compounds of any mixture, right, But you can target the 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.080 specific type of compound and in this case, you're looking 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:34.400 for the alkaloid cap saction. Yes, and you determine how 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:37.119 many parts per million is present in at a given pepper, 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.160 and it takes the subjectivity out. Yeah, And it's literally 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:43.080 just measuring the level cap sastion level in any pepper. 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:46.479 But what's need is they figured out Scollville is clearly 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.280 onto something because they figured out that if you take 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:53.879 this high performance liquid chromatography measurement and multiply the number 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:57.000 it spits out by sixteen, you will come to the 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:02.440 Scolleville unit that you would seen by a factor of sixteen. Bad, 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.160 But that's neat that you can it's not like sixteen 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:09.560 seven or something like that, or or multiplied by the 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:12.159 fact that you can multiply it by a standard number 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.600 and come to the Scoville heat unit each time means 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:20.359 he's doing something right, something, there's something there Scoville ware 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:24.320 to go that sounds like one of the real men 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:28.679 of genius commercials or something, right, I guess. Or else 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:30.479 should we get to some of the types of peppers? Now, 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:35.360 are we there? Yeah? Yeah, I think so, because if 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:38.080 you're a scientist, there's two ways to classify a pepper 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:42.119 by its heat using the Scoville heat unit index, and 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:47.919 by its shape. Yes, and then color. Well, apparently scientists 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.800 don't classify it by color. I'm talking about you and me, buddy. 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:54.640 Hotheads were in the kitchen, Okay, we're and we're looking 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:57.360 at peppers, and we're like, look at that red one. 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.840 Look at that green wrinkly one. All right, that one's funny. 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:04.840 That's a funny shape. That's how we classify red. Funny 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:08.040 shaped one's really hot. Wrinkly or smooth is another thing 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:10.879 you might notice. But you're right, as far as science 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:13.280 is concerned, its heat and shape. And then the shapes 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:17.280 go from shape A to shape I right, And my 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:21.240 favorite descriptor is the lantern shape. I think that's great. Yeah, 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:25.320 that's the hotba neuro Yeah, very thin skinned, uh and 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:28.760 very hot? Yeah? Can you can you eat peppers? Which 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:35.200 I didn't even ask this. I eat a lot of peppers. Um, 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:39.480 My heat tolerance isn't great. I do like the heat, 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:41.920 but I'm a bit of a whimp. So like, what 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:44.080 what kind of pepper do you normally? Can you eat? 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:46.600 Like a Scotch bonnet? Well, I mean I cook a 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:50.560 lot with just bells. Of course that doesn't county because 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:53.360 they're peppers, all right, Um, so I cook a lot 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:59.679 with those, but um, I cook a lot with poblanos, anaheims, chips, lapenos, serranos, 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:05.000 and Chipotle. Is you just threw me off? It's chapolte Chipotle. 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:09.240 Chipotle is a smoked taban euro right, yeah. And Ancho 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:15.960 is a dried serrano. Ancho is dried pablano ancho powder. Yeah, 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:20.000 that's from Pueblo, Mexico. Uh. Poblanos are great if you 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:22.920 want to make a good chile reno, because they're about 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:27.240 the right size and they're really just hardy, thick, waxy 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:29.919 they hold up. Well, yeah, you mean I are aficionados 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:33.080 of those things, of the pablana, know of the chill reno. 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:36.480 Oh yeah, find a good one of those. Yeah, you know, 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:38.720 it's funny. In uh college, you know, I worked at 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:43.320 Mexicali Grill, which I don't think is even a thing anymore. 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:46.119 I know the one in Atlanta Highway Clothes, which was 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:50.240 very it was an institution, sure. Uh and their chill 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:52.560 reino like a lot of the When you go to 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:55.359 some you know, kind of the cheaper Mexican places that 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:58.440 have like the menu with eight combination dinners, a lot 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:00.199 of times you will find a chill rena, which is 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:04.280 a ball of beef wrapped in cheese sitting on top 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:08.080 of a one inch square green bell pepper. I've not 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:10.240 seen that one. Yeah, that was what our chill rena was. 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:13.359 Basically just meat and cheese. Man, But you want the 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:16.560 real thing, which is stuffed in a real pepper. Huh. 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:21.119 And a lot of people use breading unnecessary. I can 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:23.199 have it both ways. It's well, it's supposed to have 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:27.520 some sort of fried wrapper around it, and the breading 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:29.760 is usually too much. The better way to do it 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.880 is like a thin omelet, almost like a crepe around it. 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:39.160 Everyone's going, yeah, good stuff, all right, Well let's back up. 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:43.880 Then back to the bells, which you don't consider peppers evidently. Well, 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:46.880 I mean as far as you're talking heat, yeah, no heat, 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:49.320 but they're great to grill and and I can't say anything. 0:21:49.359 --> 0:21:52.120 I can't really go beyond a hall of pen Oh 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:55.000 you can't stand the heat. No, So I'm frequently getting 0:21:55.000 --> 0:21:59.679 out of the kitchen. But I actually made a New 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:03.720 Year's resolution to eat more hot stuff because I realize, 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:05.520 like I'm such a total worst when it comes to 0:22:05.560 --> 0:22:07.639 this thing. Like you can build up a tolerant and 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:10.840 I have. I've gotten much better at like eating spicy stuff. 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:15.120 But yeah, if I like habanero is way too hot 0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:16.879 for me, it depends on what kind of spice it is. 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:18.800 To a lot of times, I'm more tolerant of some 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:22.159 than others. But I've learned that once you get past 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:26.840 that very unpleasant, painful sensation, there's like a whole new 0:22:26.880 --> 0:22:30.280 world of tastes out there. Yeah you know, Yeah, good point. 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:33.760 Uh So the bells are the little squatty squatty dudes. 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:37.320 Um they can be uh. I don't know if a 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:39.439 lot of people know this. All the different colors of 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:42.840 the bell pepper is the same pepper, the red bell, 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:45.600 the green bell, the yellow bell, the orange bell, it's 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:48.880 all the same, but they taste differently. Yes, because there 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:51.840 it's how long they're ripened. So what the green one 0:22:51.920 --> 0:22:55.280 is ripen or harvested? First? Wait a minute, Wait a minute, 0:22:55.320 --> 0:22:57.440 it's all the same pepper, right a minute. That's why 0:22:57.440 --> 0:22:58.960 you'll get a red pepper. This still has a little 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:03.360 green buddy, like a little patch of green. Oh wait 0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:07.760 a minute, hold on, So you didn't know this? No? Wow, 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:10.840 All right, well that didn't happen much for real. Yeah, 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:14.520 well that's great man, thank you for teaching us. The 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:17.560 green peppers is picked first. That's why they're less expensive 0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:22.600 to um, and they are a little bitter and they 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:25.560 are not nearly as sweet. Then you have yellow than 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:29.040 orange than red as they ripen, and that's why the 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:33.600 red is most expensive. And it's because it's the most mature, delicious. 0:23:33.920 --> 0:23:38.479 It is delicious, and they are sweet and kind of fruity. Um. 0:23:38.560 --> 0:23:43.720 But you're smoked on, smoked on um roasted. Yes. Oh, 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:45.679 I do it all the time. And then you just 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:48.160 peel the skin off. Yeah what I do? This article 0:23:48.200 --> 0:23:49.920 says to do it in the oven. I either put 0:23:49.960 --> 0:23:53.119 it on the grill I do with fire, or just 0:23:53.280 --> 0:23:56.879 on the stove. I'll just put it on the stove. 0:23:57.720 --> 0:24:02.159 That's a convection. You just put like an old piece 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:07.959 paper on it. Yeah. I'll just throw the red pepper 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:10.320 on the fire until it's all black, and then I 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:13.480 throw it in a paper bag. I don't do paper 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:16.159 because I don't usually plastic. Yeah, I'll just put it 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:20.520 in like a grocery store bag. That seems cocinogenic. Uh no, 0:24:20.760 --> 0:24:25.120 I don't think so. Well we'll find out. Yeah, check 0:24:25.200 --> 0:24:27.800 back with me in twenty years. Well, because you then 0:24:27.840 --> 0:24:30.160 you run into the sink and wash all that char 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:31.960