Some Like it Hot: My Relationship with Capsaicin

I grew up in Connecticut, where, in the 1950s, spicy foods did not exist on our table. Salt and pepper, yes, and maybe a small bottle of Tabasco in the fridge, slowly turning gray as the years passed.

A typical dinner was meat loaf, mashed potatoes and boiled Birds Eye frozen peas or corn (established in 1922 by Clarence Birdseye). Dessert might be a pan of Jell-O (invented 1897 by Pearle and May Wait) with a can of Del Monte fruit cocktail (started by Herbert Gray in 1930) embedded in the bottom.

After moving to California in 1967, I took to mountain hiking and camping. Camp food at that time was boiled mush made of various grains (freeze-dried meals were not marketed until 1969). Pretty bland stuff.

One day, I noticed that Dave’s mush had a reddish color. “What’s that?”

“It’s Frank’s RedHot,” Dave said. “Try it.” I did, and it helped the mush a lot.

Back home in Humboldt County, Frank’s RedHot, though first marketed by Jacob Frank in 1920, was not to be had. Dave bought bottles in Seattle and I would buy them from him at the trailhead. Picture an open trench coat displaying rows of contraband RedHot. This continued for several years until Humboldt stores wised up.

Fun Fact: In 1964, Teressa Bellissimo at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, mixed Frank’s RedHot with melted butter to invent the very first Buffalo Wings.

For the past 55 years, I have been a serious hot sauce addict, a promiscuous user of any style. Hotness in the mouth is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHU), devised in 1912 by pharmacist Wilbur Scoville. Frank’s RedHot is SHU 450. Dave’s Insanity is 180,000. After I survived my showdown with Dave’s Insanity Sauce, I reverted to relatively mild brands with plenty of flavor in addition to heat.

Fun Fact: The active ingredient in hot sauce, capsaicin, feels hot because it activates the heat sensors on your nerve cells, sending a hot temperature signal to your brain.

Is capsaicin good or bad for you? In moderation, it increases metabolism slightly, reduces appetite, lowers blood pressure and inflammation. In excess, it will irritate your digestive tract. Scoffers, probably with little actual experience, warn that hot sauce will ruin your taste buds so you can’t taste other flavors. This is hogwash. Imagine an orchestra without the brass section. Then listen to it with. Better, right?

Dick LaForge puts his taste buds through their paces in the countryside outside Eureka. He thanks AI for history and fun facts.

“It’s great having something to blame for any inaccuracies.”