Hot fun in the summertime - or any time
Seems like Valentine’s weekend is prime time for talking about hot stuff. Some like it hot, and some don’t, but the fact remains that nobody ever died from eating a hot pepper - though there are probably some who wanted to at the time.
The food service industry is seeing a trend where customers are craving an increase in spiciness. I suspect that one of the reasons for this phenomenon is that as people become more aware of the wide variety of foods available to them (thank you, Food Network, etc., etc.), they become more willing to experiment with new and more intense tastes.
Some of that intensity can be attributed to the presence of a chemical called capsaicin. All sorts of health benefits are attributed to capsaicin: It’s a powerful antioxidant, and has been proven to reduce the severity of migraine headaches. It relieves arthritis pain when applied topically and has strong antibacterial properties that help prevent sinus infections. And whatever sweat it might generate can cool you off on hot days. This explains the plethora of hot-pepper dishes in the warm year-round climates of the South and the Southwest.
There’s no shortage of places here in Rehoboth that will happily spice up your mealtimes. Chef Shawn Xiong at Confucius has a secret stash of mean little peppers from Hunan Province in China. And those of you who dared to slather Dos Locos’ satanic Face-Melting sauce on your wings at last Saturday’s Fire & Ice contest are probably still regretting it. (It hurts so good!)
Capsaicin is oil-based, so any attempt to rinse away the pain with water, beer or soft drinks does nothing more than spread the stuff around in your mouth. The more concentrated the capsaicin, the more it stings and the longer it lasts. For many of us, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, Lewes’ perennial pepper pundit Chip Hearn (Peppers.com) explains that there is actually a measurement of relative hotness - other than how loud your screams are - that can be determined by the Scoville Organoleptic Test. In 1912, pharmacist Wilbur Scoville (obviously an inveterate chilihead) devised a test to rate peppers based on how much water is required to dilute the pepper essence until it can no longer be tasted by not-quite-so-unsuspecting human subjects. For example, the Carolina Reaper - the hottest pepper known to man, at least so far - comes in at a whopping 2 million Scoville Heat Units, meaning that it took 2 million units (drops) of water to render the Carolina Reaper solution tasteless to a panel of brave humans. In contrast, the typical jalapeno pepper limps onto the scale at about 1,500 SHUs. So the next time you complain about that jalapeno slice lurking among your nachos, just keep in mind that it could be a lot worse! Given the subjective nature of our human sense of taste, the determination of SHUs is not an exact science, but it at least gives us a basis for comparison.
I have to say that few things are more fun than watching a sushi newbie mistake a schmear of wasabi for guacamole. It’s a painful rite of passage, and we quickly learn that wasabi is not to be trifled with. Allyl isothiocyanate, the pain-producing compound in wasabi, is very similar to horseradish and very different from capsaicin in that it is water-based and dissipates quickly. So though you still might long for death while you’re eating it, a couple of swigs of a frosty Sapporo or Tsingtao will change your mind sooner than if you’d popped a habanero (350,000 SHUs).
Few people are aware that the green paste slathered on your plate of sushi or sashimi is, in fact, not wasabi at all. Pure wasabi is very expensive and difficult to keep fresh, so many sushi/sashimi joints serve a green-tinted paste of horseradish, starch and mustard. Some Rehoboth restaurants do offer the real thing, grating it fresh to order for perhaps a small upcharge. Two of those places are the Cultured Pearl and Saketumi - but you have to ask. Other sushi/sashimi spots include Stingray in downtown Rehoboth and Tokyo Steakhouse in Lewes. By the way, if you are in the Fenwick area, don’t miss Flying Fish Cafe. Barry Kruemmel’s tiny emporium of seafood-you-can-see-through is very popular.
If you are among the curious, start small. Baby steps. Baby bites. Start with sliced jalapenos, and figure out how many you can plop on your tacos or nachos before you think you’re hallucinating. Life is short, and the Cape Region is full of all sorts of tastes just waiting for you. Try new things. What’s the worst that can happen!? Order another Sapporo and enjoy.
Bob Yesbek is a serial foodie and can be reached at byesbek@CapeGazette.com.
