I've been given a bounty of peppers. Jalapenos, banana peppers, some other peppers I'm not sure of (I think they're poblanos). What should I do with this pile of spicy? [more inside]
posted by borkencode on Sep 16, 2009 - 19 answers

I just went to the bathroom to pee, and seconds after finishing I realized that I must have unwittingly touched some hot peppers when I was in the kitchen. Please help me stop this unholy burning. [more inside]
posted by number9dream on Sep 26, 2008 - 27 answers

At what level of Scovilles does capsaicin produce skin irritation? [more inside]
posted by adipocere on Sep 17, 2008 - 17 answers

What affects our perception of chilli heat? [more inside]
posted by monkey closet on Aug 23, 2007 - 5 answers

Tricks for sanitizing hands after handling very spicy peppers? [more inside]
posted by adamrice on Jul 22, 2007 - 11 answers

This question is about chinese fast-food orange chicken (the deep-fried amorphous nuggets with a thick tangy glaze). When I take a deep smell from a hot bowl of this chicken, or hold it in my mouth and breathe around it, some sort of irritating vapor makes me cough (or stings my nose). Just one cough – enough to keep it from getting into my lungs. Once the chicken cools down (to mouth temperature, even) it doesn't happen. It reminds me of the reaction I've had sniffing acid in lab – could it be lots of volatile vinegar? I've experienced this with fast-food chicken in more than one college food court.
posted by lostburner on Mar 8, 2007 - 20 answers

Help, capsaicin on contacts. [more inside]
posted by empath on Dec 17, 2006 - 17 answers

How do people in certain regions (e.g. Sichuan, Korea, Thailand) eat super-spicy foods at almost every meal and not be in constant discomfort? [more inside]
posted by rxrfrx on Sep 5, 2006 - 33 answers

Physiologyfilter: After reading about capsaicin in this Straight Dope article by following a link from this thread, I got to thinking... [more inside]
posted by Eamon on Sep 13, 2004 - 12 answers