There are actually three kinds of spicy

it's a little hot okay hot like hot or hot like spicy i mean i should know by now to specify but hot seems so intertwined with spicy the sweating the red face the total need for something cooling at least that's true for the kind of spicy you get from chili peppers there are lots of different foods you might call spicy and they don't all give you that i'm actually on fire feeling so what does it mean for something to be spicy this is minute food spicy turns out to be a pretty loosely related group of sensations created when food you eat activates certain nervous system cells these cells called sensory receptors gather information about you and your surroundings things like temperature movement and stuff around you and they deliver that info to other parts of your nervous system foods we call spicy all trigger these info gathering receptors in ways that leave us kind of uncomfortable like chili peppers the classic spicy food chilies contain capsaicin a compound that binds to receptors that specialize in sensing heat normally these receptors well fire when they come into contact with anything over 43 degrees or so celsius about 109 fahrenheit sparking a cascade of physiological responses like sweating and an increased blood flow all designed to cool you off but when capsaicin binds to these receptors it changes their shape activating them at a measly body temperature a jalapeno feels fiery because it triggers the exact same physiological response as something that's actually on fire compounds in ginger and black pepper also bind to these heat sensing receptors although not as well as capsaicin so you'll have to eat way more of them to feel the same fire then there's the family that contains mustard radishes horseradish and wasabi a lot of which is actually just horseradish anyway these foods contain a compound abbreviated aitc which binds to a different kind of sensory receptor these receptors which are concentrated in your nose are particularly responsive to volatile noxious chemicals think smoke or car exhaust or tear gas when these receptors fire your eyes water you cough your sinuses hurt sound familiar the super volatile aitc that goes airborne from say your bite of wasabi laden sushi triggers these very same receptors and the same discomfort in other words wasabi is just edible tear gas so are garlic and cinnamon it turns out since they also contain compounds that bind way less successfully to those same receptors szechuan pepper is packed with a compound called sandshul sensual triggers sensory receptors that are specially tuned to detect movement and vibration even a tiny dash of sandshul will send the same signals to your nervous system as if your mouth were being touched that's where the tingly buzzing sensation of szechuan comes from these sensations can all be pretty uncomfortable especially if you overdo it but since spicy isn't just one thing there's no single trick to unoverdo it the solution depends on the kind of spicy you're dealing with the aitc of wasabi and its relatives is water soluble so a drink of water will wash away what's ever left in your mouth plus since aitc is super volatile what's already airborne will dissipate quickly along with the pain capsaicin doesn't dissolve well in water so that drink you're craving won't do much to fight the fire you're experiencing unless it's milk the combination of protein fat and sugar seems to be a triple whammy that binds to capsaicin blocks capsaicin receptors and suppresses the painful sensation and szechuan pepper you might just have to wait it out until those receptors are done firing sorry to help us actually communicate about all these different sensations and pathways it might be helpful to have way more words for spicy and actually the chinese language does ma describes the tingly sensation of szechuan pepper while la describes the searing heat of chilies ma and lock come together in some amazing szechuan dishes to create a symphony of spiciness the rest of us might also benefit from a way to distinguish between the different sensations of spicy or even between only a little spicy and the blazing i'm gonna die kind of spicy or maybe not perhaps there's something kind of exciting about not knowing exactly what spicy you're gonna get maybe variety is the spice of spicy if you love digging into why you experience the world like you do let me introduce you to this video's sponsor a dentro they'll send you a dna test kit or you can just upload raw data you've already gotten from another dna testing company that's what i did then get ready to dig into well you your ancestry nutrition behavior and more a dentro is really a dna company for science geeks their labs section explores your genes in light of the newest most innovative genetics research everything from how fast you're aging to your chronotype essentially how your internal clock works and i love that across the whole report edentro is super clear about the science 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Channel: MinuteFood

Views: 495,679

Keywords: chemistry, cooking, science, soap, MinuteFood, biology, TRPA, TRPV, capsaicin, wasabi, szechuan, pepper, chile, chili, sensory receptor, Allyl isothiocyanate

Id: 9Fdeq35qBEg

Length: 5min 33sec (333 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 27 2022