Capsaicin: I like it when my mouth cries a little

Okay, so when I was learning about receptors in one of my psychology classes, we learned about capsaicin. 

The most pertinent piece I remember from it was that you can actually overload them and make the capsaicin receptor die.  Yup.  Sounds hard to do?  Nope.  (At least, not regarding your mouth).


My brief, tame story:


If you eat fast enough, there's always spicy contact on the tongue.


[How I learned about my friend's story]:  During the first cochon de lait (Cajun pig roast) the picky eater and I attended, we were on the front porch.  I was not to keen on wading through the many people crowded inside.  I did, however, want a rum and coke, (half-and-half, thank you).
A dear friend was already heading to the cooler for beer and offered to mix my drink.  Awesome! 
A few minutes later he presents the drink, I take one sip and nearly choke.  When it tasted right for him, it was about 75% rum, 25% coke...if that.
Then I learned that most of his tongue doesn't work.


My friend's, more pronounced, story:

So, as a child, some remember the taste of soap after uttering a bad word.  My friend instead, stuck out his tongue and held hot sauce on it.  This was a common occurrence, and, eventually, he started asking for more because he liked the taste.  His mom stopped using it after that.

Remember that whole over-loading receptor-thing from earlier?  Yeah, that killed most of the capsaicin receptors on his tongue.






SO, any time I cook something spicy, it's inevitably too spicy for some.  When I try things that are supposed to be spicy, they just taste good.  Or, when other folks make comments about the spice, I'm surprised because....well, it didn't seem spicy.

Basically, you can train to handle spicy things...if you're really wanting to, but be warned--just because your mouth can handle it, doesn't mean the rest of your system can...just sayin'.





Some precautions:

When handling ingredients containing a bit of capsaicin, do be careful.

--Option 1: gloves  (they annoy me)

--Option 2: con someone else to do that particular prep work (...I plead the 5th)

--Option 3: use your tools like a monkey, and don't actually make physical contact with the ingredient  
(I do pretty well with this...but it may be problematic for others)

--Option 4: do what you do, and deal with it afterwards  (good luck with that)

• rinse like mad
• wash
• wash, again
• I like using a soap/hand wash that has milk in it
• milk helps combat the capsaicin
• they form micelles around the capsaicin
• basically, they surround it and get it the hell away from your pain receptor
• wash, again
• still try and avoid your eyes
• ...and sensitive bits.

When eating things with capsaicin, you might try some of these:

--Cool down 1: milk

• the standard for good reason
• see micelle discussion from Option 4
• I've found that, the higher the fat content of the milk/dairy product, the more effective it is
• makes sense
• you need fat in order to make a micelle

--Cool down 2: cheese

• add some of this to spicy pasta or whatever else it'd be appropriate in (to you, at least)
• same concept as above
• also, it's hard to go wrong with cheese

--Cool down 3: acceptance

• accept that small part of yourself that's a bit of a masochist
• ...at least, culinarily speaking...
• no judgments!