Tag Archives: heat

Hot Sauce Trivia

Hot sauces are excellent in sauces and stir-fry’s, make quick and handy marinades before grilling food, and are always welcome condiments on the table.
Research has proven that adding hot sauces to your foods can help your body burn calories faster (up to 45 calories more per meal than if you eat bland dishes).
When people eat hotter sauces, they experience pain in their mouths and throats. The nervous system reacts to the pain by releasing morphine-like endorphins. Endorphins create a sense of euphoria similar to the “runner’s high” that some people get from exercise. People who regularly eat hot sauces and chiles will find that they develop a tolerance to the heat and will have to eat increasingly hotter sauces to get the high.
Hot sauces are North American’s favorite way to turn up the heat and add some extra flavor and spice to their food. Most hot sauces are a blend of chiles, vinegar and salt, but many are variations that may also contain ingredients such as carrots, onion and papaya.
By adding lots of flavor to food with hot sauces, chiles and spices, you can reduce the amount of fat, oil and salt in your diet.
The stinking “rose”, otherwise known as garlic and a common ingredient in hot sauces, is an excellent antioxidant that can help reduce free radicals that exist in the human body. Garlic reduces cholesterol, clears arteries and helps maintain healthy blood circulation.The true hot sauce collector and aficionado looks for several qualities when evaluating a new sauce: appearance, originality, aroma, heat and flavor. Why not invite friends over for a hot sauce tasting party with evaluation forms for the sauces you’ll be trying? Try each sauce on unsalted crackers or tortilla chips and have some fun.
Half the fun of collecting hot sauces is laughing at the names that their creators give them. The names are as original as the sauces themselves and range from reference to fire and explosion, animals, religious, crime and punishment, controversial, erotic, naughty, mental health, and western themes. The names and labels make us laugh and represent much of the fun that enjoying hot sauces bring us.

Measuring the Heat

In 1912, a pharmacist by the name of Wilbur Scoville developed a method to measure the heat level of chile peppers. The pungency is measured in multiples of 100 units from the bell pepper, which rates at zero, to the fire-breathing habanero, which measures in at the highest end of the scale at three hundred thousand. The units of measurement are referred to as “Scoville units” or “Scovilles” and are best described as units of dilution. A chile that rates 1 Scoville unit would take 1 unit of water to negate the heat. For example, it would take 30,000 to 50,000 units of water to neutralize a Tabasco pepper.

These days, many chile lovers use a new system which is referred to as the Official Chile Heat Scale, which rates the heat of chiles from 0 to 10. On this simpler scale, bell peppers still rate as 0 and habaneros rate at the top end of the scale with a 10. Comparatively, jalapenos rate as 5, serranos at 6, and cayennes and Tabascos at 8.

It’s interesting that regardless of the heat rating that a chile may have, everyone’s palate is different and some lower registering chiles will taste hotter to some people than a higher registering chile. For example, an East Indian dish may taste very hot to someone used to Mexican spicing, even though the chiles used measure lower on the heat scale.

Fortunately, most chile lovers are more concerned with flavor than with the heat measurement!

Hot and Spicy Mood Lifter

Linda in Newsletter, Site News

We all know someone who loves their spicy food. Well, as it turns out, there is some science behind the love of hot flavors. Capsaicin, the chemical that produces the heat in chiles and peppers, increases the release of feel-good endorphins when the spice hits the tongue, according to Dr. Paul Rozin, Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Endorphins are known for their ability to reduce stress, relieve depression, and significantly raise the spirits. So, if you need an emotional lift, add some hot sauce or cayenne pepper to your next meal.

Toasting Spices

Linda in Newsletter, Site News

Toasting spices is a technique used to deepen and intensify the flavors of spices. Spices take on enhanced flavor when exposed to heat.

To toast dry spices, heat a small nonstick skillet over medium heat for 1 minute. Place whole or ground spices in skillet and stir until very fragrant and the color begins to deepen (be careful not to overcook or burn). Remove from heat and cool. If using seeds, use a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder to grind into powder. We generally only toast the spices that we need immediately as the intensity of the flavor diminishes after about 1 week.

Fresh and Dried Chile Information

Linda in Newsletter, Site News

When selecting fresh chiles, make sure that the skin is smooth and they are firm to the touch. Once they become wrinkled, they develop an earthy taste and their crisp texture and fresh flavor are gone. Use fresh chiles as soon as possible. They can be kept, however, for up to two weeks if wrapped in a dry cloth or paper towel inside a paper bag in the refrigerator.

Charring fresh chiles enhances the flavor of the flesh. Place the firm, fresh chile directly over an open flame or under a broiler until blistered and charred. Immediately put the charred chiles into a plastic or paper bag and set aside to sweat for about 10 minutes. Peel off the blackened skin (don’t worry about picking off every bit of skin) and use in your favorite recipe.

When selecting dried chiles, buy loose instead of packed whenever possible. Choose chiles that are still a little flexible and not totally dried out. Before using dried chiles, place them in a warm skillet and heat until they become pliable or for about 2 minutes. Store dried chiles in a cool, dry place or keep them in your freezer in zip-lock freezer bags.

To reconstitute, place the toasted, dried chiles in a saucepan and cover them with boiling water. Weight them with a small dish to keep them submerged and let them sit for 50 to 60 minutes, or until soft.

The easiest way to control the flavor and heat of dishes containing reconstituted dried chiles is to make them into purées. They can be added to dishes in increments until the desired balance of flavor and heat is reached.