Yeah I get it, we’ve done one about chilli before. But as we corral towards a weekend of colonical confluence, I thought it cogniscient to chat about capsaicin.
Capsaicin is a hydrophobic molecule that is not perceived as a taste sensation by your taste buds, but rather elicits a pain response analogous to that of burning. Being hydrophobic, it is not removed from the surface of taste bud cells (or any cells) by water or other hydrophilic compounds. Rather, it can only be removed by competitive inhibitors, such as other hydrophobic molecules. The classic hydrophobic molecule for chilli removal in humans is the protein casein, found in dairy products.
Interestingly, in beer, iso-alpha-acids are hydrophobic. So, they compete for the binding site of capsaicin, moving it on from your taste bud. This is why IPA and chilli foods always pair so well together.
This Saturday we’ve gone full capsaicin crazy. I’ve spent the last fortnight making tinctures of pepper, Szechwan, red chilli, habanero, chilli powder, hot sauce, pickle brine chilli, chocolate chilli and cinnamon. The results provide some chilli beer in balance with sweetness, sourness and bitterness. Others, are more dominant, with face-melting chilli burn, where the capsaicin has been wittingly encouraged to achieve its full potential of psychosomatic human pain, where dousing your face directly from the Double IPA tap is strongly encouraged.
Chilli beer, because life wasn’t meant to be easy.
Chilli
