Food chemistry — What's hot and what's not
When someone says chemical, most people tend to think of something dangerous. I ask you, would you drink a glass of dihydrogen monoxide? (Actually, if you drink lots of distilled dihydrogen monoxide you will get a form of poisoning, so don't.) For those who didn't look a the link, dihydrogen monoxide is also known as water.
My point is, chemicals are what we all are made of, and so is the food we eat. For today's post i've picked a few more interesting chemicals: The ones responsible for "hotness" in chili peppers, peppercorns, garlic, and wasabi.
The goods, nicked straigt from Wikipedia:
- Piperine, the active piquant chemical in black pepper
- Capsaicin, the active piquant chemical in chili peppers
- Allicin, the active piquant flavor chemical in uncooked garlic and onions (see those articles for discussion of other chemicals in them relating to pungency, and eye irritation)
- Allyl isothiocyanate, the active piquant chemical in mustard, radishes, horseradish and wasabi
I never really did like chemistry in school, but none the less these are interesting substances. Did you know there's even a scale for rating the hotness of chili peppers: The Scoville scale.