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How Chili Peppers Work · Stuff You Should Know

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from House Stuff Works
0:04
Speaker 1: dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark.
0:13
Speaker 1: There's Charles w Chuck Barnett, and Jerry and that makes
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Speaker 1: this stuff you should Know. I was so gonna quote
0:21
Speaker 1: the Red Hot Chilie Peppers, the band they apparently used
0:25
Speaker 1: them at Guantanamo Bay to torture prisoners. Really yeah, that
0:31
Speaker 1: surprises me. I know, usually that's like I've heard of
0:35
Speaker 1: stories like that. Usually it's some kind of dark metal
0:38
Speaker 1: or something like super Starling vocal band. Some might say abrasive,
0:42
Speaker 1: some might I think it's very soothing to hear death metal. Supposedly,
0:45
Speaker 1: there's a study out there, the head of ridiculously small
0:49
Speaker 1: study population that found that it's calming has a calling
0:52
Speaker 1: influence metal music does paid for by the Metal Association
0:56
Speaker 1: of North America Scandinavia. Uh yeah, kind of surprised they
1:00
Speaker 1: played the Chili Peppers since, uh, it's pretty easy on
1:04
Speaker 1: the ears, isn't it. Well, one of the songs with
1:06
Speaker 1: California Cation. The other later stuff isn't as good. I
1:10
Speaker 1: could go a little crazy with that one. I'll talk.
1:14
Speaker 1: What were you going to quote? I was gonna say,
1:18
Speaker 1: give it away, Give it away now or something like that,
1:20
Speaker 1: or fight like a Brave. I haven't heard that one.
1:24
Speaker 1: That's early stuff you get to say, like under the
1:26
Speaker 1: Bridge downtown. Yeah, I ate a chili pepper. I actually
1:32
Speaker 1: read his biography. I guess it was an autobiography, Anthony Keatis,
1:37
Speaker 1: because I was he writing about himself. Yeah. I was
1:40
Speaker 1: just going through a kick where I was reading music
1:42
Speaker 1: autobiographies of for just rock star stories. Didn't you recommend
1:47
Speaker 1: the more by the best? Which one was it? Uh?
1:52
Speaker 1: There's one, um quintessential one. I can't remember what it's called,
1:57
Speaker 1: the Quintessential Crew. Yeah, just look at I mean it's
2:00
Speaker 1: that's not an autobiography, that's just a biography. Yeah, but
2:02
Speaker 1: that one's really good. The Slash one is good and
2:04
Speaker 1: the Keyest one is good. Man, he that guy. He
2:08
Speaker 1: had troubles, oh yeah, just bad drug troubles and woman
2:13
Speaker 1: troubles over and over and over. But he's good now.
2:17
Speaker 1: Well good for him. Yeah, welcome back to the fray,
2:20
Speaker 1: Anthony Keynes. That's what I say. So we're not talking
2:24
Speaker 1: about the red hot chili peppers. We're talking about red
2:27
Speaker 1: hot chili peppers, right, not the right We're talking about
2:31
Speaker 1: chili peppers, depending on where you are in the world,
2:34
Speaker 1: c h I l I peppers or c h I
2:37
Speaker 1: L E peppers or just chilies. Yeah, you can say that.
2:41
Speaker 1: I think a lot of chefs just call them chilies. Well, yeah,
2:44
Speaker 1: because they're like, they don't waste words. No, they don't
2:48
Speaker 1: say peppers. It's a couple of extra syllables. Yeah, exactly, No, chef,
2:53
Speaker 1: give me some of those chilies. Uh. It is the
2:57
Speaker 1: bell pepper and the celery stalk and the onion. It's
3:02
Speaker 1: part of the trinity of I guess you would call
3:06
Speaker 1: it nolange cooking. Sure, the bell pepper is a chili pepper.
3:11
Speaker 1: It's just um, a non hot chili pepper, but it's
3:15
Speaker 1: still the same thing. Um. And it turns out that
3:19
Speaker 1: we get that terminology chili. It actually was used by
3:23
Speaker 1: the Aztecs or the Triple Alliance and Mesoamerica, the Triple
3:27
Speaker 1: Indy's the Triple Alliance prior to the arrival of Columbus.
3:32
Speaker 1: And it was Columbus himself where we get the the
3:36
Speaker 1: misnomer chili pepper, because Columbus can that guy get anything right.
3:43
Speaker 1: So he comes across the chili pepper and decides that
3:46
Speaker 1: it must be a relative of the black pepper, with
3:49
Speaker 1: which he and the rest of Europe are already very familiar.
3:52
Speaker 1: So he calls it the chili pepper because he hears
3:54
Speaker 1: up in Mexico they call it chili's. It's what the
3:57
Speaker 1: Triple Alliance calls it. So that's where it came from,
4:00
Speaker 1: chili peppers. But it has no relation whatsoever to the
4:03
Speaker 1: chili or the pepper. The black pepper um and it's
4:08
Speaker 1: been around. It's actually one of the oldest domesticated crops
4:11
Speaker 1: in the America's actually, yeah, it started out in South
4:14
Speaker 1: America about six thousand years ago. I saw nine thousand,
4:18
Speaker 1: let's stay between five and twelve. Uh. And they don't
4:23
Speaker 1: know whether it was Bolivia or Brazil. There's a heated
4:26
Speaker 1: debate in the pepper community on the country of origin,
4:30
Speaker 1: but they do know that birds are the ones who
4:32
Speaker 1: disperse them, and birds can't feel heat in their mouth.
4:36
Speaker 1: They carry them around and propagate the seeds. And uh.
4:40
Speaker 1: Then Columbus, of course brought them to Europe, and that's
4:43
Speaker 1: something spread. That's why you can use hot sauce or
4:45
Speaker 1: chili pepper spray or something like that on your bird
4:48
Speaker 1: seed to deter squirrels. Yeah, because the birds are fine,
4:53
Speaker 1: but the squirrels. And it says here the birds can't
4:59
Speaker 1: digest PEPPERSI but nobody can really digest pepper seeds. If
5:03
Speaker 1: I can whole, I totally can't know you can't. I
5:06
Speaker 1: will show you right now. You can show me your stool.
5:11
Speaker 1: Uh No, we can't digest them either because we don't
5:14
Speaker 1: digest seeds that aren't chewed because they're covered in cellulose
5:18
Speaker 1: and it just goes straight through to our poop. Exactly
5:20
Speaker 1: same with corn. Yeah, because that is a seed. It is.
5:24
Speaker 1: I'm glad you finally said that somebody needed to say.
5:29
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the trendy facts. Don't you
5:31
Speaker 1: think that corn is a seed? Yeah? Yeah, probably seems
5:35
Speaker 1: like I saw that all over the internet. It's pretty
5:37
Speaker 1: hot right now. Corn and poop. It's a hot topic. So, um,
5:41
Speaker 1: I did a dump be dumb on that on hot topics. Man,
5:46
Speaker 1: No corn, corn and you poop? Yep? Yeah, see hot topic.
5:50
Speaker 1: So um Columbus brings the stuff back and it spreads
5:56
Speaker 1: like crazy like syphilis. Yeah, because think about this, um,
6:00
Speaker 1: chili peppers, we're are native to the America's and we're
6:04
Speaker 1: unknown outside of the America's until about five hundred or
6:09
Speaker 1: so years ago. Now they're grown in just about every
6:12
Speaker 1: country in the world. Um. There's all different types of varieties. Um.
6:18
Speaker 1: But it turns out that there's twenty five wild species
6:23
Speaker 1: and five domesticated species. And one of them. Noteworthy things
6:28
Speaker 1: about chili peppers is most of the time, when humans
6:32
Speaker 1: domesticated a wild crop, they would stop using the wild
6:37
Speaker 1: version of it because it was just so far inferior
6:40
Speaker 1: to the domesticated version. Not so with with um chilies.
6:45
Speaker 1: Wild chilies are just as prized, if not more prized,
6:47
Speaker 1: than the domesticated ones. So there's five species chuck. And
6:52
Speaker 1: by the way, chili peppers blowing to the night shade
6:54
Speaker 1: family with potatoes, tomatoes, gojiberries, eggplants in nightshade yep, and um.
7:02
Speaker 1: The five species are fun to say. Yeah, I wasn't
7:06
Speaker 1: even gonna do it, but I encourage you too, Okay,
7:09
Speaker 1: Uh kep Cicum and you um keep ciccum, kept cicum frutescents,
7:19
Speaker 1: kept scumb but cadam and kept Cicum pubescence does have
7:24
Speaker 1: little hairs on them. I saw that one coming. So
7:30
Speaker 1: those are the five families. Uh, peppers are generally hot,
7:34
Speaker 1: although we'll get into all that with the varieties. Like
7:36
Speaker 1: you said the bells, everyone knows bells aren't very hot.
7:39
Speaker 1: But um, what you're talking about with the heat is
7:41
Speaker 1: what's called their pungency. And the heat actually uh comes
7:46
Speaker 1: from alkaloids present in the peppers called cap sasan yes,
7:50
Speaker 1: which we talked about in December the pepper pepper spray episode,
7:55
Speaker 1: because that's the cap that's what they're using in pepper spray.
7:58
Speaker 1: If you didn't listen to it, check it out. It's
8:00
Speaker 1: a good one. But yeah, it's kind of funny to
8:03
Speaker 1: think about defense. Self defense tool is really just uh,
8:09
Speaker 1: canned hot pepper. Yeah, because that stuff can be It works, Yeah,
8:13
Speaker 1: it really does work. Um. And with with the the
8:18
Speaker 1: pungency of a pepper, most people think that it's found
8:20
Speaker 1: in the seeds. That's actually a myth. Well, it is
8:24
Speaker 1: found in the seeds, it's not housed in the seeds, right,
8:26
Speaker 1: So the seeds are attached to the pepper itself through
8:29
Speaker 1: something called the placenta. It's a membrane that white stuff
8:32
Speaker 1: that's inside of a pepper, right, and that's where the
8:36
Speaker 1: capsaan um is is stored. Um and since the seeds
8:42
Speaker 1: are attached to the membrane, a lot of that stuff
8:45
Speaker 1: makes it way its way to the seeds. But if
8:48
Speaker 1: you really want the high heat, you eat the membrane.
8:52
Speaker 1: If you want want the high heat, just eat the
8:53
Speaker 1: whole thing. H D seed and D membrane mine. But
8:58
Speaker 1: if you're looking for heat, then don't even sweat it. Literally,
9:02
Speaker 1: don't sweat it. That's yeah, that's like the second at
9:04
Speaker 1: least pun that you've made. Oh yeah, yeah, well was
9:08
Speaker 1: the first one? Something was They were both accidental hot.
9:11
Speaker 1: I can't remember what it was. Well, those are just words. No,
9:14
Speaker 1: it was perfect, It was really great. Uh So the
9:19
Speaker 1: pain is actually not coming from your taste buds because
9:22
Speaker 1: they don't feel pain. It's coming from pain receptors in
9:26
Speaker 1: your mouth, and it sends a message to your to
9:30
Speaker 1: your brain saying this is super hot. I wouldn't eat
9:33
Speaker 1: that much unless you like it. Right. It's the same
9:36
Speaker 1: pain receptors that UM tell you that say the sip
9:41
Speaker 1: of coffee you just took is too hot, or like
9:44
Speaker 1: something is thermally too hot. It's triggered by cap sason.
9:48
Speaker 1: It's the t r p V one receptor and that
9:51
Speaker 1: triggers the release of a neuro transmitter called substance P
9:55
Speaker 1: and that's cap sastion can also block. What's crazy is yes,
10:00
Speaker 1: so the it's well when we'll talk about it a
10:03
Speaker 1: little more later. But cap sason is used as a
10:07
Speaker 1: topical pain reliever, right like Shaquille O'Neal knows that he
10:12
Speaker 1: does he uh, I think yeah, Um, So cap sasan
10:18
Speaker 1: If you rub it on the skin, it goes to
10:21
Speaker 1: those TRPV one receptors and basically overloads them so thoroughly
10:27
Speaker 1: that they're no longer able to transmit the sensation of
10:29
Speaker 1: pain in that area. So it's a local anesthetic. Yeah,
10:32
Speaker 1: it's pretty cool. Yeah it is. Uh, And lots of
10:35
Speaker 1: other health benefits we'll talk about. Peppers are great for you.
10:38
Speaker 1: Peppers are super Uh. They do not cause ulcers, that
10:42
Speaker 1: is a myth um and in fact, they protect the
10:45
Speaker 1: stomach lining or can and they can also thin the blood,
10:49
Speaker 1: so you need to watch out for that if you
10:51
Speaker 1: are on an anticoagulant. Yeah. I don't know if they
10:54
Speaker 1: say that on the prescription or not, but the pepper prescription,
10:59
Speaker 1: no m prescribe to it in Alabania today. No, the
11:05
Speaker 1: anticoagulant prescription. Of course it might. But if you are
11:10
Speaker 1: in a contest or just at dinner and your mouth
11:14
Speaker 1: becomes inflamed, um, don't. Well, you can drink water. I
11:18
Speaker 1: think it provides a temporary respite. I don't know if
11:22
Speaker 1: it even does that. It does for me. It basically
11:25
Speaker 1: smooths the stuff around and throughout your mouth, which is
11:30
Speaker 1: not good. What you want is something fatty like milk. Yeah,
11:34
Speaker 1: because cap sasan dissolves in the presence of fats or
11:39
Speaker 1: like um, if you eat a lot of Mexican food
11:41
Speaker 1: or Indian food, Um, that that sour cream and that
11:43
Speaker 1: yogurt is a nice way to smooth that out. That's
11:46
Speaker 1: what it's there for. Baby. Well, that in taste and
11:49
Speaker 1: in flavor and texture and everything else. Yeah, I guess. So. Yeah,
11:54
Speaker 1: it's not like they're, like you said, some sour cream
11:57
Speaker 1: because this is too hot, but it definitely helps. I
12:00
Speaker 1: read an article actually with a guy who was in
12:03
Speaker 1: a contest and he was a hot pepper guy, and
12:07
Speaker 1: he described I think he ate like three ghost peppers
12:12
Speaker 1: just in twenty seconds, and he was fine at first.
12:17
Speaker 1: Then it got hot like in it not in his mouth,
12:20
Speaker 1: but in his throat and then, um, he just kept
12:24
Speaker 1: going through waves like he said it would go away,
12:26
Speaker 1: and I thought it was good, and he's like an
12:27
Speaker 1: hour later, it felt like a red hot burning nickel
12:31
Speaker 1: on my stern um and it was just moving and
12:33
Speaker 1: sway down, I guess. And then he said he felt jubilation,
12:37
Speaker 1: like exhilaration, which we'll talk about this one of the
12:39
Speaker 1: effects of peppers that can you know, pick up your mood.
12:43
Speaker 1: But he said he was just like I felt like
12:45
Speaker 1: he was on cocaine. Weird. Yeah, yeah, because they trigger
12:49
Speaker 1: a release of endorphins exactly, so you can get a
12:52
Speaker 1: runners high or some sort of high off of eating pepper,
12:56
Speaker 1: which is why some people eat peppers. They really makes
12:59
Speaker 1: him feel great. Yeah, I guess this guy wasn't a runner.
13:01
Speaker 1: He must have just done some cocaine before his line, right,
13:05
Speaker 1: that was his god too. And um, so you said
13:07
Speaker 1: that birds are immune to the effects of peppers, and
13:12
Speaker 1: they also spread the seed by pooping it out right, Um,
13:15
Speaker 1: mammals are not immune to the effects of it, including humans,
13:19
Speaker 1: and apparently humans are the only mammals that purposefully eat peppers,
13:22
Speaker 1: and it's been called a form of benign masochism. Yeah,
13:28
Speaker 1: but it makes sense if um. And the reason why
13:30
Speaker 1: they think peppers have that kind of burning thing is
13:33
Speaker 1: is to protect itself, to ward off mammals from eating it. Um.
13:38
Speaker 1: But the the idea that we can get some sort
13:42
Speaker 1: of rush from it, it's kind of counterintuitive if you
13:45
Speaker 1: think about it as far as evolution goes from the
13:48
Speaker 1: pepper standpoint, because that encourages people to keep eating you.
13:52
Speaker 1: That's a good point. All right, Well, let's take a
13:55
Speaker 1: break here and we'll come back and talk a little
13:57
Speaker 1: bit about how the heat is measured in a hot pepper.
14:03
Speaker 1: You know, all right, I guess we need to talk
14:19
Speaker 1: about uh Scoville. Mr Scoville was your doctor. He's a pharmacist. Yeah,
14:25
Speaker 1: but I wondered if he was a doctor. I think
14:26
Speaker 1: he got an honorary doctorate. He deserved one. You count those? Uh? Sure,
14:32
Speaker 1: all right, probably depends on where it's from, what it's for,
14:35
Speaker 1: but sure, yeah, I would. I want to be like
14:39
Speaker 1: you can call me doctor Mr Clark, doctor Mr. Uh.
14:43
Speaker 1: He was a pharmacist, like you said, who developed um
14:47
Speaker 1: something called the Scoville organ elliptic test in nineteen twelve,
14:53
Speaker 1: and uh, what is this? A hilarious name for what
14:57
Speaker 1: is it is kind of weird, isn't it should just
15:00
Speaker 1: call it the chili test or something. It just made
15:02
Speaker 1: me laugh like a goon a. Well. Previous to this
15:05
Speaker 1: test um, the only test was basically just to have
15:08
Speaker 1: people eat them and ask them how hot? It's pretty hot? Okay,
15:13
Speaker 1: that's a pretty hot pepper. Give me some milk fat, right,
15:17
Speaker 1: technically pork fat whatever. You just need a slab of
15:20
Speaker 1: fat and then get rid of it real quick. Yeah.
15:22
Speaker 1: They said chocolate too will help you. Well, it's a
15:25
Speaker 1: fatty yeah, full of lipids. I think that's people just
15:28
Speaker 1: like the eat chocolate. They're hot stuff. Uh So, Scofield says,
15:33
Speaker 1: there's got to be a better way, and he says,
15:36
Speaker 1: why don't we devise a test where we have people
15:38
Speaker 1: eat peppers and ask them how hot it is? Pretty much,
15:41
Speaker 1: but let's do it in a little bit different way.
15:43
Speaker 1: Let's keep feeding them peppers that are more diluted until
15:47
Speaker 1: they can't feel heat any longer, and just make it
15:50
Speaker 1: a little more organized and formal. So the Scopeville, the
15:54
Speaker 1: Scoville heat unit is what it comes up with, right, So,
15:57
Speaker 1: for example, of bell pepper has a zero not hot,
16:01
Speaker 1: but say Hoban euro some types of Hobban euro peppers
16:04
Speaker 1: can get up to like five hundred thousand UM. I
16:07
Speaker 1: think the red something, Oh what is it? I'm sorry,
16:11
Speaker 1: the red Slavinia Haban euro pepper got up to five
16:14
Speaker 1: hundred seventy thousand Scoville heat units. It's very hot. And
16:18
Speaker 1: what that means is that it would take five hundred
16:20
Speaker 1: and seventy thousand cups of water to dilute one cup
16:25
Speaker 1: of extract from the red Slovenia Haban euro and one
16:28
Speaker 1: shot of milk fat right before before anybody could say
16:32
Speaker 1: I detect no heat whatsoever. So that's what the Yeah,
16:35
Speaker 1: it's a tremendous amount of war. And it's not like
16:37
Speaker 1: he was pouring a whole cup of this stuff into
16:40
Speaker 1: five hundred and seventy thousand cups of water. I think
16:44
Speaker 1: he just used fractions probably, So yeah, in a minute
16:47
Speaker 1: to come to that conclusion, I was like, what kind
16:49
Speaker 1: of bat did this guy have in his yard? A
16:52
Speaker 1: big one? Uh? So that was the old test um.
16:56
Speaker 1: And even though they no longer use that, they still
16:59
Speaker 1: used a s h u Scoville heat unit as the
17:03
Speaker 1: unit of measure, which I think is a nice little
17:05
Speaker 1: tip of the cap it is because it could have
17:07
Speaker 1: changed it. Wilbert Scoville's ghost is like, I approve. Uh. Now,
17:13
Speaker 1: what they do is use liquid chromatography. Uh. And they've
17:17
Speaker 1: been doing that since about the seventies. And that's not
17:20
Speaker 1: specific to testing peppers. It's basically just separating and analyzing
17:25
Speaker 1: compounds of any mixture, right, But you can target the
17:28
Speaker 1: specific type of compound and in this case, you're looking
17:31
Speaker 1: for the alkaloid cap saction. Yes, and you determine how
17:34
Speaker 1: many parts per million is present in at a given pepper,
17:37
Speaker 1: and it takes the subjectivity out. Yeah, And it's literally
17:40
Speaker 1: just measuring the level cap sastion level in any pepper.
17:43
Speaker 1: But what's need is they figured out Scollville is clearly
17:46
Speaker 1: onto something because they figured out that if you take
17:49
Speaker 1: this high performance liquid chromatography measurement and multiply the number
17:53
Speaker 1: it spits out by sixteen, you will come to the
17:57
Speaker 1: Scolleville unit that you would seen by a factor of sixteen. Bad,
18:02
Speaker 1: But that's neat that you can it's not like sixteen
18:06
Speaker 1: seven or something like that, or or multiplied by the
18:09
Speaker 1: fact that you can multiply it by a standard number
18:12
Speaker 1: and come to the Scoville heat unit each time means
18:15
Speaker 1: he's doing something right, something, there's something there Scoville ware
18:20
Speaker 1: to go that sounds like one of the real men
18:24
Speaker 1: of genius commercials or something, right, I guess. Or else
18:28
Speaker 1: should we get to some of the types of peppers? Now,
18:30
Speaker 1: are we there? Yeah? Yeah, I think so, because if
18:35
Speaker 1: you're a scientist, there's two ways to classify a pepper
18:38
Speaker 1: by its heat using the Scoville heat unit index, and
18:42
Speaker 1: by its shape. Yes, and then color. Well, apparently scientists
18:47
Speaker 1: don't classify it by color. I'm talking about you and me, buddy.
18:50
Speaker 1: Hotheads were in the kitchen, Okay, we're and we're looking
18:54
Speaker 1: at peppers, and we're like, look at that red one.
18:57
Speaker 1: Look at that green wrinkly one. All right, that one's funny.
19:02
Speaker 1: That's a funny shape. That's how we classify red. Funny
19:04
Speaker 1: shaped one's really hot. Wrinkly or smooth is another thing
19:08
Speaker 1: you might notice. But you're right, as far as science
19:11
Speaker 1: is concerned, its heat and shape. And then the shapes
19:13
Speaker 1: go from shape A to shape I right, And my
19:17
Speaker 1: favorite descriptor is the lantern shape. I think that's great. Yeah,
19:21
Speaker 1: that's the hotba neuro Yeah, very thin skinned, uh and
19:25
Speaker 1: very hot? Yeah? Can you can you eat peppers? Which
19:29
Speaker 1: I didn't even ask this. I eat a lot of peppers. Um,
19:35
Speaker 1: My heat tolerance isn't great. I do like the heat,
19:39
Speaker 1: but I'm a bit of a whimp. So like, what
19:41
Speaker 1: what kind of pepper do you normally? Can you eat?
19:44
Speaker 1: Like a Scotch bonnet? Well, I mean I cook a
19:46
Speaker 1: lot with just bells. Of course that doesn't county because
19:50
Speaker 1: they're peppers, all right, Um, so I cook a lot
19:53
Speaker 1: with those, but um, I cook a lot with poblanos, anaheims, chips, lapenos, serranos,
19:59
Speaker 1: and Chipotle. Is you just threw me off? It's chapolte Chipotle.
20:05
Speaker 1: Chipotle is a smoked taban euro right, yeah. And Ancho
20:09
Speaker 1: is a dried serrano. Ancho is dried pablano ancho powder. Yeah,
20:16
Speaker 1: that's from Pueblo, Mexico. Uh. Poblanos are great if you
20:20
Speaker 1: want to make a good chile reno, because they're about
20:22
Speaker 1: the right size and they're really just hardy, thick, waxy
20:27
Speaker 1: they hold up. Well, yeah, you mean I are aficionados
20:29
Speaker 1: of those things, of the pablana, know of the chill reno.
20:33
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, find a good one of those. Yeah, you know,
20:36
Speaker 1: it's funny. In uh college, you know, I worked at
20:38
Speaker 1: Mexicali Grill, which I don't think is even a thing anymore.
20:44
Speaker 1: I know the one in Atlanta Highway Clothes, which was
20:46
Speaker 1: very it was an institution, sure. Uh and their chill
20:50
Speaker 1: reino like a lot of the When you go to
20:52
Speaker 1: some you know, kind of the cheaper Mexican places that
20:55
Speaker 1: have like the menu with eight combination dinners, a lot
20:58
Speaker 1: of times you will find a chill rena, which is
21:00
Speaker 1: a ball of beef wrapped in cheese sitting on top
21:04
Speaker 1: of a one inch square green bell pepper. I've not
21:08
Speaker 1: seen that one. Yeah, that was what our chill rena was.
21:10
Speaker 1: Basically just meat and cheese. Man, But you want the
21:13
Speaker 1: real thing, which is stuffed in a real pepper. Huh.
21:16
Speaker 1: And a lot of people use breading unnecessary. I can
21:21
Speaker 1: have it both ways. It's well, it's supposed to have
21:23
Speaker 1: some sort of fried wrapper around it, and the breading
21:27
Speaker 1: is usually too much. The better way to do it
21:29
Speaker 1: is like a thin omelet, almost like a crepe around it.
21:33
Speaker 1: Everyone's going, yeah, good stuff, all right, Well let's back up.
21:39
Speaker 1: Then back to the bells, which you don't consider peppers evidently. Well,
21:43
Speaker 1: I mean as far as you're talking heat, yeah, no heat,
21:46
Speaker 1: but they're great to grill and and I can't say anything.
21:49
Speaker 1: I can't really go beyond a hall of pen Oh
21:52
Speaker 1: you can't stand the heat. No, So I'm frequently getting
21:55
Speaker 1: out of the kitchen. But I actually made a New
21:59
Speaker 1: Year's resolution to eat more hot stuff because I realize,
22:03
Speaker 1: like I'm such a total worst when it comes to
22:05
Speaker 1: this thing. Like you can build up a tolerant and
22:07
Speaker 1: I have. I've gotten much better at like eating spicy stuff.
22:10
Speaker 1: But yeah, if I like habanero is way too hot
22:15
Speaker 1: for me, it depends on what kind of spice it is.
22:16
Speaker 1: To a lot of times, I'm more tolerant of some
22:18
Speaker 1: than others. But I've learned that once you get past
22:22
Speaker 1: that very unpleasant, painful sensation, there's like a whole new
22:26
Speaker 1: world of tastes out there. Yeah you know, Yeah, good point.
22:30
Speaker 1: Uh So the bells are the little squatty squatty dudes.
22:34
Speaker 1: Um they can be uh. I don't know if a
22:37
Speaker 1: lot of people know this. All the different colors of
22:39
Speaker 1: the bell pepper is the same pepper, the red bell,
22:42
Speaker 1: the green bell, the yellow bell, the orange bell, it's
22:45
Speaker 1: all the same, but they taste differently. Yes, because there
22:48
Speaker 1: it's how long they're ripened. So what the green one
22:51
Speaker 1: is ripen or harvested? First? Wait a minute, Wait a minute,
22:55
Speaker 1: it's all the same pepper, right a minute. That's why
22:57
Speaker 1: you'll get a red pepper. This still has a little
22:58
Speaker 1: green buddy, like a little patch of green. Oh wait
23:03
Speaker 1: a minute, hold on, So you didn't know this? No? Wow,
23:07
Speaker 1: All right, well that didn't happen much for real. Yeah,
23:11
Speaker 1: well that's great man, thank you for teaching us. The
23:14
Speaker 1: green peppers is picked first. That's why they're less expensive
23:17
Speaker 1: to um, and they are a little bitter and they
23:22
Speaker 1: are not nearly as sweet. Then you have yellow than
23:25
Speaker 1: orange than red as they ripen, and that's why the
23:29
Speaker 1: red is most expensive. And it's because it's the most mature, delicious.
23:33
Speaker 1: It is delicious, and they are sweet and kind of fruity. Um.
23:38
Speaker 1: But you're smoked on, smoked on um roasted. Yes. Oh,
23:43
Speaker 1: I do it all the time. And then you just
23:45
Speaker 1: peel the skin off. Yeah what I do? This article
23:48
Speaker 1: says to do it in the oven. I either put
23:49
Speaker 1: it on the grill I do with fire, or just
23:53
Speaker 1: on the stove. I'll just put it on the stove.
23:57
Speaker 1: That's a convection. You just put like an old piece
24:03
Speaker 1: paper on it. Yeah. I'll just throw the red pepper
24:08
Speaker 1: on the fire until it's all black, and then I
24:10
Speaker 1: throw it in a paper bag. I don't do paper
24:13
Speaker 1: because I don't usually plastic. Yeah, I'll just put it
24:16
Speaker 1: in like a grocery store bag. That seems cocinogenic. Uh no,
24:20
Speaker 1: I don't think so. Well we'll find out. Yeah, check
24:25
Speaker 1: back with me in twenty years. Well, because you then
24:27
Speaker 1: you run into the sink and wash all that char
24:30
Speaker 1: off of it, So I don't think it's coming to
24:32
Speaker 1: contact what you're eating with the plastic, right, so you
24:35
Speaker 1: use the sink. Huh yeah, just because it's really hot
24:38
Speaker 1: to the touch. Still. Well, that that's the other thing
24:41
Speaker 1: that I noticed in this article says leave it for
24:43
Speaker 1: like fifteen minutes, which seems smart. I don't ever have
24:45
Speaker 1: time for that. So I just put it under the
24:47
Speaker 1: cold water, get all the seeds in the membrane and
24:50
Speaker 1: the skin off got you, and then slice it up
24:53
Speaker 1: and throw it in a salad. It is delicious, very delicious. Uh.
24:59
Speaker 1: But the okay, the red pepper has more because it's
25:02
Speaker 1: matured longer, has eleven times more beta carotene than green
25:06
Speaker 1: and one and a half times more vitamin C, so
25:09
Speaker 1: they're healthier. That's what you're paying for, the beta carotene.
25:12
Speaker 1: That's right, big money in beata, right. Uh. And then
25:17
Speaker 1: you can also have chocolate purple and even white bell peppers,
25:22
Speaker 1: and this is now you're just lying now. I think
25:26
Speaker 1: those are just different varieties, though I don't think those
25:28
Speaker 1: are like how mature they are, like the white ones
25:31
Speaker 1: are grown in the dark or something like that. I
25:34
Speaker 1: don't know. I have no idea. Um, the pimiento and
25:39
Speaker 1: paprika are both where you they come from red bells thought,
25:43
Speaker 1: and paprika is well, then how is how is that?
25:46
Speaker 1: How does that have any kind of Paprika has a
25:49
Speaker 1: little bit of heat to it, doesn't it? Uh? No, No,
25:53
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of cayenne pepper. Yeah, cayenne is made from
25:55
Speaker 1: hot red chilies, and paprika is just smoked unless it's
26:00
Speaker 1: Hungarian paprika, and that's sweeter and that's not smoked. So
26:04
Speaker 1: if you see a recipe that says paprika, you should
26:07
Speaker 1: probably know whether it's smoked or Hungarian. And if not,
26:11
Speaker 1: I would probably just go with hungarian. Oh you think, well,
26:14
Speaker 1: unless you just know you want a smoky flavor. This
26:19
Speaker 1: has been quite a ler. Banana peppers very mild, Peppercini's
26:26
Speaker 1: very mild. You get those on your subway sandwich? Yeah yeah,
26:33
Speaker 1: or like as a side on a Papa John's pizza.
26:36
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, like that. That's right. I knew i'd seen those.
26:39
Speaker 1: And then of course the best one of all, the
26:40
Speaker 1: pablano pepper, right. Uh. And then the pimento, which we
26:44
Speaker 1: just mentioned, and that is a variety of the red
26:46
Speaker 1: bell I think, and that's what they put in olives
26:49
Speaker 1: and cheese. What about the hot guys seat, I don't
26:54
Speaker 1: mess with them that much. But yeah, like we said,
26:57
Speaker 1: there's Halapano, Serrano, abaniro, Chippotle, so it is Chipotle? Yeah,
27:05
Speaker 1: what do you think it was? We were saying Chipolte?
27:07
Speaker 1: Are you saying Chipotle? I was saying Chipotle, said that?
27:11
Speaker 1: And then Anaheim Anaheim. Yeah. I think some people transpose
27:16
Speaker 1: to l and say Chipotte. Yeah, they definitely do. I
27:19
Speaker 1: got confused. I know how to say it right, but
27:21
Speaker 1: earlier I was like, wait, they didn't sound right. Yeah. Uh.
27:26
Speaker 1: And then of course you have the delicious tai chilies
27:29
Speaker 1: or bird's eye chilies, and those are really good and
27:32
Speaker 1: super hot, and they are small and thin but pack
27:37
Speaker 1: of punch. So normally the rule of thumb is thin
27:41
Speaker 1: long ones that are red are going to be your hottest, right,
27:48
Speaker 1: But there's exceptions to those rules, which is the Scotch bonnet.
27:52
Speaker 1: Scotch bonnet is like it's like even, it's like more
27:55
Speaker 1: pumpkin shaped. It's like it's habaniro but it's even it's
27:59
Speaker 1: less lantern shaped and more pumpkin shaped. And I think
28:02
Speaker 1: it's like a yellow yellow orange and very hot, very
28:05
Speaker 1: frequently found in like Jamaican cuisine, the Scotch bonnet. Uh,
28:12
Speaker 1: if you dry the pepper out and you have like
28:15
Speaker 1: the ento pepper, the chipotle dried stuff that we're talking about,
28:19
Speaker 1: it's gonna be hotter. Get that in mind. Some people
28:21
Speaker 1: who like peppers will just put them in a food
28:23
Speaker 1: dehydrator and eat them like that. Yeah, or just let
28:26
Speaker 1: them just dry out in you're in the sun. If
28:29
Speaker 1: you're slack, you're a hippie chuck. We also said that.
28:34
Speaker 1: So if you're a scientist, you say this pepper is
28:38
Speaker 1: shape a and as a Scoville rating of five chilion. Right, Okay, Um,
28:43
Speaker 1: then you've just described a pepper to another scientist. They
28:46
Speaker 1: know what you're talking about. But there's a something called
28:49
Speaker 1: the Chili Pepper Institute. It's an institute that's associated with
28:52
Speaker 1: the University of New Mexico, and New Mexico, by the way,
28:55
Speaker 1: is the the foremost domestic producer of chili peppers in
28:59
Speaker 1: the United States thanks to a man named FABIOND. Garcia,
29:04
Speaker 1: who was a pioneer in cultivating peppers here in the
29:07
Speaker 1: United States. He released his first variety, the New Mexico
29:12
Speaker 1: number nine. I thought you canna say his first album
29:15
Speaker 1: Mambo number five. Yeah um. But he's like known as
29:20
Speaker 1: the father of chili peppers in the US, the North
29:23
Speaker 1: American chili and in India they are. Um, they're the
29:26
Speaker 1: world's largest producer of chili's. Yeah um. But there's so
29:31
Speaker 1: there's another way to describe them beyond shaped, color and heat,
29:35
Speaker 1: and the Chili Pepper Institute came up with this. It's
29:38
Speaker 1: for the heat profile. And basically there's five components to
29:42
Speaker 1: the heat profile. Um. There's the heat the Scoville heat
29:47
Speaker 1: unit to it. Yeah um. Then there's how fast it
29:50
Speaker 1: hits Like you were saying that guy who ate some
29:53
Speaker 1: ghost chilis um that they were kinda like it took
29:57
Speaker 1: a minute to come on. He's like, this isn't so bad.
30:00
Speaker 1: Some peppers that hit like immediately. So that would be
30:02
Speaker 1: the second descript or the second component um. The third
30:06
Speaker 1: would be whether it lingers or dissipates quickly or how
30:09
Speaker 1: fast it dissipates. Eventually it's going to dissipate you hope, yeah,
30:14
Speaker 1: and then come and burn the next day coming out
30:17
Speaker 1: the other end. Yeah, you know, yeah uh. And then
30:21
Speaker 1: the fourth one is um where it's sensed, like is
30:24
Speaker 1: it in the throat, is it on your tongue, is
30:26
Speaker 1: it in the roof of your mouth? Where does it attack? Basically?
30:30
Speaker 1: And then the last one is whether it's flat or sharp.
30:33
Speaker 1: So flat is say, um, I saw, and I think
30:36
Speaker 1: that that New Yorker article or maybe the Smithsonian one
30:39
Speaker 1: that sent you UM. Flat is where it's like your
30:43
Speaker 1: whole tongue is just coated in the sensation of heat,
30:47
Speaker 1: whereas um sharp is where it feels like little hot
30:50
Speaker 1: needles in your mouth or something like that. And the
30:53
Speaker 1: preference in America is for a flat sensation, whereas Asian
30:57
Speaker 1: countries tend to prefer the sharp sensation, like the tai chilies. Yes,
31:02
Speaker 1: interesting sharp, that's right. Uh. Do you like hot Asian food? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, Um,
31:09
Speaker 1: I like curries and stuff like that. Nothing too hot though.
31:13
Speaker 1: I mean, like, I'm still a pretty big woos and
31:17
Speaker 1: I'm also like comfortable enough with myself that I don't
31:20
Speaker 1: feel the need to show off or accepted dare of
31:23
Speaker 1: course not no, so yeah, I don't need that hottest stuff,
31:27
Speaker 1: but I will sometimes. If you're still accepting food related
31:31
Speaker 1: dares in your late thirties or forties, yeah, then you
31:34
Speaker 1: don't know you should seek some help. Did you read
31:37
Speaker 1: about that guy, Ted Busser Busser, Oh, he was in
31:41
Speaker 1: the New Yorker article. He that's exactly what he does. He's,
31:45
Speaker 1: you know, thirties forties. He's on YouTube some help and
31:49
Speaker 1: he accepts um challenges, food challenges, so people will send
31:52
Speaker 1: him like the most disgusting thing they can find, and
31:54
Speaker 1: then he eats it on on air. But one of
31:57
Speaker 1: the things that he eats are like really hot peppers.
31:59
Speaker 1: Has become kind of like a a de facto pepper judge, right,
32:04
Speaker 1: because there is this whole community out there. Yeah, well,
32:08
Speaker 1: we'll talk about that after we take a break. How
32:10
Speaker 1: about that stop, so Chuck, we kind of teased that
32:26
Speaker 1: there's a there's a community of chili pepper ficionados out
32:30
Speaker 1: there to tough guys and women. Yes, and yeah, I
32:35
Speaker 1: meant that in the non gender specific Yeah. And they
32:38
Speaker 1: range from um, just people who like to eat them,
32:42
Speaker 1: to people who make their own hot sauce, to people
32:45
Speaker 1: who are competing by growing cultivators. Yeah, the hottest peppers
32:49
Speaker 1: on the planet. And they it gets pretty dicey. They
32:52
Speaker 1: get um, very competitive and very snippy. From what I read. Yeah,
32:57
Speaker 1: there's about you know, um, the legitimacy of the heat
33:02
Speaker 1: that they claim. Yeah. So there's just again a really
33:05
Speaker 1: great New Yorker article called the fire Eaters from I
33:08
Speaker 1: think a year or two back, and it gives a
33:11
Speaker 1: really great outsider's view of this community, and it is
33:16
Speaker 1: very snippy. One of the problems is there's no official
33:20
Speaker 1: central body that says this is the hottest pepper on
33:24
Speaker 1: the planet. Well, Guinness does, Guinness doesn't. A lot of
33:27
Speaker 1: people defer to Guinness, to some other people are like
33:29
Speaker 1: Guinness does. No, they're they're just they're dilettants. What we
33:32
Speaker 1: need is a governing body that's dedicated only to chili peppers,
33:38
Speaker 1: well not Guinness, right, yeah, And one reason why is
33:41
Speaker 1: because it changes, like people are cultivating these things. There
33:45
Speaker 1: could be a new hot, hottest pepper every three months exactly,
33:49
Speaker 1: and Guinness isn't gonna stay on top of that, right
33:52
Speaker 1: So there it's kind of like, why are you being
33:53
Speaker 1: talking to those guys. So some people do defer to
33:55
Speaker 1: Guinness because it is the closest thing that they have
33:58
Speaker 1: to um a a judgment saying this is the world's
34:02
Speaker 1: hottest people just like we're saying that. But um, there's
34:07
Speaker 1: no organizing, central body that that is dedicated to judging
34:11
Speaker 1: which is the hottest chili pepper, and there should be there.
34:14
Speaker 1: According to these people, they could use it. They think
34:17
Speaker 1: the government should supply it, but they can't even decide
34:20
Speaker 1: on whether that the hottest pepper in the world should
34:23
Speaker 1: be its peak or what an averages it's mean. So
34:28
Speaker 1: right now, um, Guinness goes by the mean. And as
34:31
Speaker 1: it stands in the world, the hottest chili pepper as
34:35
Speaker 1: of August two thousand thirteen is called the Carolina Reaper. Yeah,
34:40
Speaker 1: the HP two B in H seven out of rock Kill,
34:44
Speaker 1: South Carolina and the Carolina Reaper has an average, an average.
34:49
Speaker 1: Remember that um red Slavinia Habaniro had five hundred and
34:53
Speaker 1: seventy thousand Scoville heat units. This one averages one million,
34:59
Speaker 1: five hundred sixty nine thousand, three hundred Scoville heat units.
35:03
Speaker 1: That's right, and a peak of over two point two million.
35:06
Speaker 1: And hats off to Ed Curry of pucker Butt Pepper
35:09
Speaker 1: Company and uh Fort Mill. He's he's a very controversial
35:13
Speaker 1: pepper grower. He is. He blended. The original cross breed
35:16
Speaker 1: was between a ghost pepper, which was the previous hottest
35:20
Speaker 1: pepper introduced to the North America in two thousand, uh,
35:25
Speaker 1: the infamous ghost pepper, and then he uh crossbreeded that
35:28
Speaker 1: with bread that with a red habanerro. So the the
35:32
Speaker 1: boot toil Lokia is the ghost pepper. It's from India
35:36
Speaker 1: and from two thousand seven to two thirteen it was
35:38
Speaker 1: the reigning champ. Yes, and from before that was that
35:42
Speaker 1: red slavinia from two thousand and seven. Again that's as
35:46
Speaker 1: far as Guinness is concerned. Um, but there are peppers
35:49
Speaker 1: out there. There's the um so what's the scorpion one,
35:53
Speaker 1: the Trinidad scorpion Butch t Yeah, so that was actually
35:57
Speaker 1: grown by some guys in Australia who crossed a Trinidad
36:02
Speaker 1: scorpion which is already very hot, with a pepper that
36:05
Speaker 1: was grown by a guy named Butch Taylor in I
36:08
Speaker 1: think Mississippi. He's right outside big on this. As it
36:12
Speaker 1: turns out. Um, I think the thing is like, if
36:17
Speaker 1: there's people who listen to like Front two four two
36:19
Speaker 1: and go boar hunting, if there's a larger population of
36:22
Speaker 1: them and that country, that that country is going to
36:25
Speaker 1: be more likely to be into eating hot peppers. What's
36:28
Speaker 1: Front two four two? They're like an industrial band? What
36:33
Speaker 1: does that mean about me? Because I've never even heard
36:35
Speaker 1: of it. You don't need hot hot peppers? Uh, there
36:39
Speaker 1: are some who claim. In fact, grower in southern California says,
36:44
Speaker 1: I've had I had a pepper once that was over
36:47
Speaker 1: three million. But I don't even publish that stuff, he says,
36:50
Speaker 1: because it's a fluke. Right, So so that's the that's
36:53
Speaker 1: the question, like should that one be considered the world's
36:56
Speaker 1: hottest pepper or should that plant have to species consistently
37:01
Speaker 1: have to put out something at three million? Yeah, doesn't matter. Well,
37:07
Speaker 1: it's another question entirely, you know, can't we just I
37:09
Speaker 1: know they get specific about it and they want to do,
37:11
Speaker 1: but it seems like we can just say all of
37:13
Speaker 1: these are very hot, very very hot. You're welcome. Yeah,
37:19
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's scary stuff if you it is, Um,
37:23
Speaker 1: Christopher Guests should do a mockumentary about pepper hot heads.
37:27
Speaker 1: It's right for it, all right. So let's say you
37:29
Speaker 1: want to pick out a pepper at a grocery store.
37:34
Speaker 1: Look for firm skin, look for super bright colors, which
37:40
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm pretty down on produce and big
37:43
Speaker 1: box grocery stores. But if you go to a farmer's market,
37:48
Speaker 1: and especially like a local farmers market, you're gonna see
37:51
Speaker 1: weird shaped, super super bright colored peppers. Yeah, weird shaped
37:57
Speaker 1: is right. Remember. Yeah, we've talked about this before. Grif
38:00
Speaker 1: your stores won't sell ones that are perfectly awesome and
38:03
Speaker 1: maybe even better tasting because they look weird, right, that
38:07
Speaker 1: bell pepper looks like Richard Nixon, throw it in the trash. Yeah,
38:09
Speaker 1: And it's like, I'm um, the longer they ripe in,
38:14
Speaker 1: the hotter they get. So. Like you said, the red ones, Um,
38:18
Speaker 1: if the red ones still have a little green. They're
38:20
Speaker 1: not fully ripe yet, so they probably won't be as hot.
38:24
Speaker 1: But that's that's the case with a bell probably anyway.
38:26
Speaker 1: So you're not looking for heat, looking for sweet. Um.
38:30
Speaker 1: If you are cooking with peppers, uh, it says in
38:33
Speaker 1: here like be sure to wash your hands. But what
38:36
Speaker 1: you really need to do, if you're serious is where gloves? Where? Um?
38:42
Speaker 1: Where doctors? What are they called rubber gloves? Yeah, rubber gloves,
38:47
Speaker 1: because that is truly the only way. Like, if you
38:51
Speaker 1: come into contact with your fingers and that membrane or
38:53
Speaker 1: those seeds, you can wash your hands ten times and
38:58
Speaker 1: you forget, and like the next day you will get
39:01
Speaker 1: an eye booger out and you'll be like, what in
39:04
Speaker 1: the world my eyes on fire? You take your context
39:07
Speaker 1: and you go to put them in the next one.
39:08
Speaker 1: I can't imagine. I cooked one night some piea and
39:13
Speaker 1: us some hot peppers and did not wear gloves, and
39:16
Speaker 1: I went peepee later. Oh no, I didn't think about it,
39:20
Speaker 1: and I had a speaking of syphilis burning sensation down below.
39:28
Speaker 1: It was bad. That's how they simulated for medical students.
39:31
Speaker 1: Really it was bad. So I learned the hard way.
39:35
Speaker 1: I just got a box of those nights as at
39:37
Speaker 1: nitrate gloves nitrate or nitrite and explodes. The other one's fine,
39:42
Speaker 1: I think, well, I put him in the kitchen. I
39:44
Speaker 1: also wear a painter's respirator. What kind of peppers are
39:48
Speaker 1: you working with? The you know, the hot stuff like
39:51
Speaker 1: ghost peppers. No, but I cook with hobby arrows and
39:54
Speaker 1: stuff sometimes, and it's like it's nuclear the fumes are.
39:58
Speaker 1: It's like if you're over the Saint cl in the mountain,
40:00
Speaker 1: you're breathing it in. You'll you'll find yourself or at
40:03
Speaker 1: least I do, coughing and burning. So I'll wear the
40:07
Speaker 1: respirator in my club. So um, you mean. I would
40:11
Speaker 1: juice sometimes and every once in a while she'd put
40:14
Speaker 1: like a pepper in there, like a hall of peeno,
40:17
Speaker 1: and it would just turn the kitchen into like like
40:19
Speaker 1: a tear gas bomb had gone off. It's crazy. It
40:22
Speaker 1: gets everywhere. It does because these things are basically vaporized
40:25
Speaker 1: and they just spread so easily through the air and
40:30
Speaker 1: it definitely gives it a kick. Um. Oh, if you
40:35
Speaker 1: want to store peppers, um, like we said, you can
40:38
Speaker 1: dry them out and they'll keep for a long time. Uh,
40:41
Speaker 1: they'll keep you don't want to wash them. You want
40:43
Speaker 1: to just put them unwashed into your fridge. Yeah, true,
40:47
Speaker 1: and they'll just keep just regular peppers. Peppers will keep
40:50
Speaker 1: for a long time. It's not something that goes bad
40:52
Speaker 1: very quickly. But you can freeze them if you slice them,
40:56
Speaker 1: put them on a baking tray in the freezer. Then
40:59
Speaker 1: you can collect them and throw him in a bag
41:00
Speaker 1: and you can keep them for like a year. Nice. Uh,
41:03
Speaker 1: But I don't see why you'd freeze peppers. Just buy
41:06
Speaker 1: the Mountain need and cook with them or pickle them.
41:09
Speaker 1: That's great. Pickled peppers are wonderful. I can just eat
41:13
Speaker 1: those straight. I don't like pickled things, so I'm not
41:15
Speaker 1: into it. But yeah, it's it's so good for you.
41:20
Speaker 1: Pickling pickled foods are so good for you. There's so
41:23
Speaker 1: many health benefits. I'll you'll eat other healthy things that
41:26
Speaker 1: I enjoy. But how do you not like pickles? Stuff? Like?
41:29
Speaker 1: I could eat pickled any you could cut your finger
41:31
Speaker 1: off and pickle it. I'd probably eat it. How does
41:33
Speaker 1: anyone not like anything? But I mean, like what about it?
41:36
Speaker 1: You don't like the tartness? No, just the taste anything pickled?
41:42
Speaker 1: Like a pickled a pickle sour kraut. Oh you don't
41:46
Speaker 1: like sour kraut sauer kraut. I guess I could have
41:49
Speaker 1: seen that. I hate pickled so much that I have
41:53
Speaker 1: to ask and rest, like when I go to a
41:55
Speaker 1: pub and have like a burger and fries, to leave
41:57
Speaker 1: the pickle off, because invariably they will put the pickle
42:00
Speaker 1: down soaking into the French fries in the bun, and
42:03
Speaker 1: it will ruin that for me. Wow, you hate pickles.
42:06
Speaker 1: That might hate pickles that much, Well, all eat the
42:08
Speaker 1: pickles that you get on the side from now. Okay,
42:11
Speaker 1: well it will eat the pickles. You can arm wrestle
42:12
Speaker 1: her for them. Okay, that's fine, that's a deal. Um.
42:15
Speaker 1: But when I said you shouldn't, you know, just buy
42:17
Speaker 1: the amount. If you're growing pickles or i'm sorry, growing peppers, pickles,
42:22
Speaker 1: pickled peppers, then you might end up with a lot
42:24
Speaker 1: of peppers. And that's why you might want to pickle
42:26
Speaker 1: them or pickle them if you're into that, because we
42:29
Speaker 1: grew peppers one year and they were easy to grow
42:31
Speaker 1: and bountiful. Yeah, pepper planks, Yeah, that equals a lot
42:36
Speaker 1: of peppers. I guess we should talk about growing them
42:39
Speaker 1: a little bit. Huh, I guess. So they're perennials, so
42:44
Speaker 1: that means they stick around. Well, it depends on where
42:46
Speaker 1: you live. Yeah, if it's cold, you might grow them
42:48
Speaker 1: as animals. They're pretty flexible. Um, you can start them
42:52
Speaker 1: as seeds ten weeks prior to the first frost. You
42:55
Speaker 1: want to germinate them in little trays. First you soaked
42:58
Speaker 1: the seeds for a couple of days. Then you germinate
43:01
Speaker 1: them with a little bit of starter ten weeks prior
43:04
Speaker 1: to frost. After the last frost comes and goes, you
43:08
Speaker 1: can start to harden them by moving them outside a
43:11
Speaker 1: couple hours at a time and talk to them, say
43:14
Speaker 1: this is good for you. You shake them. It takes
43:19
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks, um a few hours each day
43:22
Speaker 1: more until they are hard and ready, right, and then
43:26
Speaker 1: they start to grow. You want to fertilize them. When
43:30
Speaker 1: the peppers grow out and turn hard, you can cut them.
43:35
Speaker 1: And when you do, you want to cut some stem
43:37
Speaker 1: because it extends their shelf life, and then you have peppers.
43:40
Speaker 1: You can also just go to the store and buy
43:42
Speaker 1: some peppers. Yeah, if you're in the garden garden, Yeah,
43:47
Speaker 1: if not, or I've just grown from seed. Man, it
43:49
Speaker 1: seems like such a nightmare to me. Well, it's for
43:52
Speaker 1: people who have time and what are hobbyists. But I
43:55
Speaker 1: also get like, if it's a very like if it's
43:57
Speaker 1: an heirloom something or just thing you're not going to
44:00
Speaker 1: find anywhere. With peppers, I mean, sure there are some
44:04
Speaker 1: like if you want to buy the Carolina Reaper, you
44:06
Speaker 1: can get packs of those seeds for like ten bucks
44:08
Speaker 1: or something. Right, You're not gonna find those at any stores.
44:11
Speaker 1: So I get growing those from seed, But like growing
44:14
Speaker 1: like a squash plant from seed, It's like, what are
44:17
Speaker 1: you doing? Man? You've got you should have better things
44:20
Speaker 1: to do with your time than that a weaker squash
44:22
Speaker 1: last year from seed? What are you doing? Man? We
44:25
Speaker 1: have a garden, right, But you can just buy like
44:28
Speaker 1: the seedlings. Yeah, you could do that. Okay. Are you
44:33
Speaker 1: saying why do people garden? No? I love gardening. I'm
44:37
Speaker 1: just saying growing from seed a plant, Like, if you
44:41
Speaker 1: like growing from seed, you should get a seed catalog
44:44
Speaker 1: and find something that you can't find elsewhere. That's what
44:46
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I have a very strong opinion on growing
44:50
Speaker 1: things from each their own. With everything, but gardening but gardening,
44:54
Speaker 1: we start plants a lot too. Not everything is from
44:58
Speaker 1: seed because you're saying sensible peak, But do you do
45:01
Speaker 1: you see my point? Do you get seed catalogs? Not catalogs,
45:08
Speaker 1: I don't think. But we buy buy seeds online. You
45:11
Speaker 1: should get your hands on seed catalog Yeah. Yeah, I
45:13
Speaker 1: can't remember the name of the company. That sounds like
45:16
Speaker 1: to book reading. Yes it is. It's just so. Yes,
45:19
Speaker 1: it's very delightful. It makes you so excited for spring.
45:23
Speaker 1: Uh Off label uses of peppers will say you can
45:28
Speaker 1: eat them or you can rub them on your pain parts. Yeah,
45:33
Speaker 1: because remember they overload your nose desceptor. That's right. They
45:37
Speaker 1: can lower your blood pressure. They can be antiquagulants, like
45:40
Speaker 1: I think that's one and the same. Think about it.
45:43
Speaker 1: If it thins the blood, it's going to also like
45:47
Speaker 1: lower your blood pressure. True, I would think. Okay, it's
45:52
Speaker 1: also been shown chuck. It lowers bad cholesterol, not even
45:56
Speaker 1: not just any cholesterol. It lowers your bad cholesterol. And
45:59
Speaker 1: not only does it lower the cholesterol present in your blood,
46:03
Speaker 1: I think it attracts it, right because remember it's fat
46:07
Speaker 1: soluble um and then it gets flushed out of the system.
46:10
Speaker 1: It actually removes the build up of bad cholesterol plaque
46:14
Speaker 1: in your arteries. Man, this stuff is it makes me
46:17
Speaker 1: want to eat more peppers. I already eat quite a
46:19
Speaker 1: bit of peppers. I need to eat more, I think. Uh.
46:24
Speaker 1: In the future, they hope to use it for um,
46:27
Speaker 1: cancer prevention, stroke, heart attack prevention. All right, you know,
46:31
Speaker 1: I guess it already works. Is that if it's lowering
46:33
Speaker 1: your blood blood pressure, that's what I got from that too.
46:36
Speaker 1: But the cancer, it's its own thing. They found that
46:39
Speaker 1: that cap station itself basically attacks. Wow, I mean that's
46:48
Speaker 1: Are you upset about the growing from seed tirade? Oh no,
46:51
Speaker 1: I don't care. What like it was directed at me. Yeah,
46:55
Speaker 1: it didn't mean for it to be, but it took
46:57
Speaker 1: a pretty hard turn at the end. There right to
46:59
Speaker 1: your right to your front door, I don't care, right
47:02
Speaker 1: to your garden door? No, no, no, no. Uh. We
47:06
Speaker 1: have an article called ken gost peppers kill you on
47:08
Speaker 1: our website. Cannot it's not good. Um, but apparently three
47:15
Speaker 1: pounds um the peppers can kill you? Is that right? Yeah?
47:20
Speaker 1: How like what's the mode of death? I don't know.
47:23
Speaker 1: They don't say. That's why it's not a good article. Well,
47:25
Speaker 1: so these these pain receptors, the um t r P,
47:30
Speaker 1: I mean it's a toxin cap sasan is trpv one um.
47:35
Speaker 1: They're also responsible for regulating your body heat. Helping regulate
47:39
Speaker 1: your body heat. So I wonder if you have like
47:41
Speaker 1: a heat stroke or something like that. I don't know.
47:43
Speaker 1: I would just say it's if it's a toxin and
47:45
Speaker 1: you eat too much of any toxin, you could die. Yeah,
47:48
Speaker 1: But but there's you know, you die from like some
47:51
Speaker 1: toxin slow your respiration and you stop breathing from lack
47:54
Speaker 1: of eye You know what. I bet you had something
47:56
Speaker 1: to do with respiration, because if you are in a
48:00
Speaker 1: hot pepper eating contest, one thing they will talk about
48:02
Speaker 1: is their throat swelling and having a hard time breathing.
48:06
Speaker 1: That'd be my guess. I think they uh. I think
48:09
Speaker 1: there was a Science Daily article originally that said that.
48:13
Speaker 1: So there was a speaking of ghost peppers up until
48:16
Speaker 1: last year. In two thousand and fourteen, there was a
48:18
Speaker 1: restaurant in Grantham, Lincolnshire, I take two to be in England,
48:24
Speaker 1: probably called Bindy. It was. The restaurant was named Bindy.
48:27
Speaker 1: It was an Indian restaurant um and it had a
48:30
Speaker 1: Curry called the Widower that used twenty ghost peppers among
48:34
Speaker 1: a ton of other ones, and apparently, um, they had
48:39
Speaker 1: sold like five six hundred of them and like about
48:43
Speaker 1: three quarters of the people finished it managed to finish it. Which, yeah,
48:47
Speaker 1: if you think like the ghost pepper that was like
48:49
Speaker 1: the one that got all the press in two thousand seven.
48:51
Speaker 1: I think what's remarkable is that people that are ordering
48:54
Speaker 1: this are probably have a very high tolerance anyway, and
48:58
Speaker 1: if they're not able to finish it, that says a
48:59
Speaker 1: lot exactly. So that's chili peppers. Everybody, go forth and
49:05
Speaker 1: eat something. You said that it doesn't give you ulcers,
49:09
Speaker 1: and in fact it actually helps with cases of ulcers. Right,
49:12
Speaker 1: that's right, and that amazing it is. Okay, So if
49:15
Speaker 1: you want to know more about chili peppers, you can
49:17
Speaker 1: type that word into the search bar how stuff works
49:20
Speaker 1: dot com and it will bring up this article. And
49:23
Speaker 1: I said, uh, search bompsys listening. I'm gonna call this
49:29
Speaker 1: a rarely granted shout out. We get requests a lot
49:33
Speaker 1: for shout outs, and we couldn't do them all otherwise
49:37
Speaker 1: our show would be called shout outs. You should know.
49:41
Speaker 1: But this one was from a fourteen year old girl
49:43
Speaker 1: who sended very sweet from Red. Hi, guys, I'm a
49:47
Speaker 1: fourteen year old girl who's been listening for a long time,
49:49
Speaker 1: and I wanted to say thanks for the time that
49:51
Speaker 1: you spend to make it smarter. It's been really fun
49:54
Speaker 1: for my sister Anna and I uh to listen to
49:58
Speaker 1: your podcast before we go to sleep. However, she's leaving
50:01
Speaker 1: for college soon to study studio art and I'll be
50:04
Speaker 1: all alone when I listen to you guys. So if
50:06
Speaker 1: it isn't too much to ask, could you give her
50:08
Speaker 1: a shout out and tell her that she is an
50:09
Speaker 1: awesome sister and will be missed. Uh, Sarah, you could
50:14
Speaker 1: tell her that yourself too. By the way you should
50:16
Speaker 1: express your emotions, I don't like to talk. You can
50:20
Speaker 1: also say to my brother's Jonathan, Stephen and Tommy that
50:23
Speaker 1: they are okay. Too many kids are in this family.
50:26
Speaker 1: It sounds like one five. Uh if you oh, and
50:30
Speaker 1: she said, no, don't mention that's sixth one. I'm just kidding.
50:35
Speaker 1: If you do this, then you guys will be the
50:36
Speaker 1: best podcasters ever, not like you aren't already actually on
50:40
Speaker 1: a just sent an email or maybe it's Anna to
50:43
Speaker 1: you guys last night about hula hoops and uh, if
50:47
Speaker 1: you could put both our emails on the air, that
50:49
Speaker 1: would be the best. I'm not gonna do that, Sarah,
50:52
Speaker 1: but I did write her back, so um, this is
50:55
Speaker 1: a secret from annas it would be a big surprise.
50:57
Speaker 1: So uh Sarah, Tona Anna, good luck at college. You
51:02
Speaker 1: will be missed. You're a great sister. That's a nice
51:05
Speaker 1: Chuck and their brothers Jonathan, Stephen and Tommy and Desert. Okay, man,
51:11
Speaker 1: that was nice, very kind of you. You never know. Uh, well,
51:15
Speaker 1: if you want to see if you can tell get
51:17
Speaker 1: Chuck's heart strings, give you your best shot. Good luck.
51:20
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51:23
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51:26
Speaker 1: you Should Know. You can send us an email to
51:28
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51:31
Speaker 1: always joined us at at home on the web, Stuff
51:33
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51:41
Speaker 1: thousands of other topics. Is it how stuff Works dot com.