I didn’t used to like any heat in my food. Really. You’d have a hard time guessing that from my family foodie blog, MyKidsEatSquid, where I add a dash of chili any chance I get.
It took me years to learn to enjoy spicy heat in food. But I think my road from spice-averse to spice addict would have been a much shorter trip had I learned something earlier—not all heat is created equal.
In my non-chili years, I went by the assumption that all heat was like jalapenos: the acidic punch battered the tip of my tongue with each bite and for days afterwards I’d have a tough time tasting food without the twang of jalapenos as an after taste. I hated jalapenos.
I still thought of spicy heat as an assault on your taste buds until I had three roommates from Mexico my sophomore year in college. They added chili powder to everything, including fresh slices of oranges and mangos. Even candy had a chili kick lingering in the sweetness. And then one night we had a chili pepper eating contest. I can’t even remember how it got started but one of my roommates dared me to eat a Serrano pepper. Smaller than a jalapenos but supposedly hotter, Serranos are about two to three inches long. I took the dare.
The first Serrano pepper was on the smaller side. I took one tentative bite on the end, expecting that jalapeno battery right from the start. Nothing. I nibbled through the rest of the pepper still waiting for a kick of heat. Again, nothing. A little confused, I ate another one. And another. After three Serrano peppers I discovered a few things. First, I liked the flavor—the Serrano peppers have a brighter, sweeter taste than jalapenos and the heat hit the back of my throat and was over quickly. Second, Serrano peppers vary in heat levels. Some are fairly mild while others are hotter than jalapenos. Much hotter. I found that out about halfway through my third chili.
Chili peppers have varying levels of heat—from how long it lingers, to where the heat hits you in the mouth. The Scoville scale can help you figure out how hot a chili pepper is likely to be. It measures the amount of capsaicin oil in chili peppers. The capsaicin acts on your nerve endings triggering all of the sensations of heat you experience in spicy food, from your face beginning to sweat to your sinuses clearing up. The hottest chili, the famed ‘Ghost chili’ hits one million Scoville heat units and would leave me in tears (if not hospitalized). My husband who loves things spicy sampled a dabble of Ghost chili sauce and began going red within seconds. Police department style pepper spray, by comparison, comes in at 1.5 to 2 million Scoville heat units. And what about the Serrano? 10,000 to 23,000. Jalapenos? 3,500 to 8,000.
Within that range from just barely tingly with capaisicin with a pepperoncini to blow-you-away Ghost peppers, there are so many possibilities. Add to that we’ve discovered in our family different peppers seem to affect us, well, differently. My husband can’t tolerate as much Serrano pepper heat whereas I tend to add extra in sauces. But he can add tablespoons of Sriracha sauce to dishes and I’m reaching for a glass of water after just a sample.
My recommendation? Start slowly and experiment with a few different kinds of heat. Let your kids try just a dot on their finger. Instead of asking them, “Do you think it’s hot?” Try, “Where do you feel the heat on your tongue? Does it last or go quickly?” If you make it more of an experience, they might be more willing to give chili sauces a chance.
Kristen J. Gough is the Global Cuisines & Kids Editor for Wandering
Educators.
All photos courtesy and copyright Kristen J. Gough