Spicing It Up: Top 12 Unbelievable Fun Facts About Chili You Never Knew

1. Milk Mishap: Relief and Regret

Crying over spilled milk might help you forget the burning inferno in your mouth after downing that chili, but that milk might just be fanning the flames of your indigestion fire: While milk indeed offers temporary relief from the heat of capsaicin, it can aggravate symptoms of acid reflux, leaving calcium carbonate antacids like Tums® and Rolaids® to truly save the day by neutralizing stomach acid and providing soothing relief.
Source => health.clevelandclinic.org

2. Columbus' Fiery Flavor Voyage

Who would've thought chili peppers could give new meaning to "spicing up" travel routes? These fiery little numbers sure changed the flavor of the world: Christopher Columbus discovered chili peppers in America in 1492, later introducing them to Spain, from where they rapidly spread to Portugal and eventually made their way to Asian countries.
Source => clickandgrow.com

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=> Fun Facts about Mexican-Food

3. Carolina Reaper: The Devil's Dance Partner

Hold onto your taste buds, folks, for they're about to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight: The Carolina Reaper, the world's hottest chili pepper, boasts a scorching 1.5 to 2.2 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU), making it almost twice as hot as its closest infernal competition and far more thrilling than a trip to the emergency room!
Source => scovillescale.org

4. Chili Capsaicin: Pain Relief without Addiction

Feeling hot, hot, hot and a bit Rodney Dangerfield? Chili peppers might be your ticket to "I can't get no respect" relief: Capsaicin, the element responsible for the spiciness of red peppers, is proven to have analgesic effects, stimulating the cerebral opioid system and potentially providing pain relief, all without creating an actual dependency.
Source => ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

5. Astronauts Spicing Up Space Gardens

Feeling hot, hot, hot in zero gravity: NASA astronauts are boldly growing where no Hatch chile peppers have grown before – aboard the International Space Station, as part of a challenging experiment to cultivate longer-duration crops in space and spice up the astronauts' space food menu.
Source => cnn.com

6. Chili Peppers' Sizzling Self-Defense

Who needs hot sauce when you've got Mother Nature bringing the heat: Chili peppers create their own sizzling defense with capsaicin, secretly fending off fungal infections while tricking us into breaking a sweat with their fiery flavor, though this spicy strategy does cost them some energy, making non-pungent plants the more fruitful option in water-scarce environments.
Source => sites.dartmouth.edu

7. Massachusetts' Oldest Hot Sauce

Feeling spicy? Before Sriracha and Tabasco took the crown, Massachusetts was heating up dinner tables with its own "lit" condiment: Cayenne pepper-based hot sauce, or "cayenne sauce," has been commercially sold in the United States since 1807, making it potentially the oldest American hot sauce.
Source => africandreamfoods.com

8. Chili Peppers: Ancient Antibiotics

Chili peppers: putting the "hot" in antibiotics since ancient times! Seriously though: capsaicin, the fiery compound responsible for that cheek-flushing, mouth-sweating heat in chili peppers, is showing promise as a natural antibiotic with strength against foodborne bacteria such as Salmonella and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, potentially leading to spicier alternatives to traditional infection-fighting medications.
Source => omicsonline.org

9. Capsaicin Cha-Cha: Internal Thermostat Tango

Feeling hot, hot, hot? Thank this spicy capsaicin cha-cha for firing up your internal thermostat! Capsaicin - the wild card in chilis known to tango with your taste buds: It activates thermoregulatory systems within your body, stimulating temperature-sensitive neurons in the hypothalamus, managing your core body temperature without actually turning up the heat.
Source => ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

10. Chili Peppers: Revolutionary Spice with Health Benefits

Before salsa dancers sashayed and hot sauce lovers set their tongues ablaze, a humble chili pepper walked among the indigenous and seasoned Native American cuisine: Chili peppers, already present for over 7,000 years, found themselves in the European spotlight in the 1500s and have since sparked a spicy revolution, leading to over 3,000 varieties grown worldwide including eye-watering contenders like the Carolina Reaper, habanero, and red savina. These fiery bad boys not only spice up dishes like spaghetti alla puttanesca, but also boast numerous health benefits, taking the heat against cardiovascular problems, inflammation, obesity, depression, and even alcohol addiction.
Source => italian-feelings.com

11. Red vs. Green: Ripe Chili Pepper Showdown

When it comes to chili peppers, it's not easy being green: Red chili peppers are actually healthier and sweeter than their green counterparts because they're fully ripened versions with higher amounts of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and capsaicin, which not only bring the heat but also boost their nutritional value.
Source => shop.westlandpeppers.com

12. Fiery Romance: Chili Peppers Heat Up Heart Health

If you're looking for a fiery romance with chili peppers, it turns out they just might be good for your heart in more ways than one: capsaicin, the hot component of these spicy delights, was found to improve risk factors of coronary heart disease in adults with low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels, according to a recent study. Consuming 4mg of capsaicin daily for three months led to a significant increase in fasting serum HDL-C levels, along with a moderate decrease in triglycerides, C-reactive protein, and phospholipid transfer protein activity - making these little firecrackers a heart-healthy treat with an amusingly unexpected anti-inflammatory kick!
Source => ncbi.nlm.nih.gov