Buzz
At home, we’re big fans of Mexican, Thai, and Chinese cuisine. Actually, we love all kinds of food, but that's not really the main point. The key issue is that, due to our preferences, I often find myself dealing with a lot of chile peppers (some people call them chili peppers, but I prefer the Spanish spelling used in Mexico and the American Southwest to avoid confusion with the dish they’re often added to). Sometimes these chiles are dried, in powders, pastes, or oils. But more often than not, they’re fresh, which means I’m the one cleaning and chopping them. And that, inevitably, leads to me curled up on the kitchen floor, coughing uncontrollably and crying like a child. So why does this happen?
Experience the Heat
The issue is capsaicin, the compound responsible for the heat in chiles that adds a kick to my fajitas and pad thai. It doesn’t just cause a burning sensation on the tongue, it also irritates other tissues and mucous membranes. Rubbing your eyes or scratching your nose after handling chiles is never pleasant, but you don’t need direct chile-to-skin contact to feel the burn. Washing, seeding, chopping, or frying chiles can release capsaicin molecules into the air, which can be inhaled, irritating and sensitizing your lungs, causing coughing fits, choking, and difficulty breathing.
Quenching the Heat
If working with chiles leaves you coughing, take a cue from professional cooks who handle them regularly: simply wear a damp bandana—or even a dish towel if you're in a bind—over your nose and mouth to reduce the amount of capsaicin that can enter your airways.
To remove capsaicin from your hands before touching your face, wash with soap and water or rub vegetable oil onto your hands, then rinse with water. Since capsaicin is hydrophobic, just water won’t do the trick, but soap and oil can trap the molecules so they can be washed away.
Interesting Capsaicin Tidbits for Your Next Party
Capsaicin’s ability to induce coughing isn’t always a negative and actually makes it quite valuable in medical studies. In clinical trials of new cough suppressants, capsaicin is sometimes used to trigger coughing, allowing researchers to test the effectiveness of the medicine.
The venom of Psalmopoeus cambridgei, a tarantula native to the West Indies, contains three distinct peptides that affect the same sensory receptors as capsaicin, offering a fascinating example of both a plant and an animal using similar chemical tactics for self-defense.
