Tag: Pepper heat

From a purely botanical standpoint, the jalapeño is a fruit, a fact that often surprises home cooks. So, what category is a jalapeño from a culinary perspective? This article dives into the dual identity of this popular pepper to resolve the confusion.

According to research published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the sensation of spiciness is not a taste but a pain signal. This is because the active component in chili peppers, capsaicin, tricks the nervous system into perceiving heat, making you feel hot.

The average cayenne pepper falls within a Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) range of 30,000 to 50,000, but the exact amount of capsaicin in one cayenne pepper is not a fixed number. Numerous factors, from genetics to growing conditions, influence the concentration of this heat-inducing compound.