You just took a big spoonful of that awesome smelling chili, or bit deep into a chicken wing. Instantly your mouth has become a burning inferno. Panic sets in as you begin to uncontrollably sweat and run around looking for something, anything that will douse the flames in your mouth, throat and sometimes, nose and sinuses. Chili contains capsaicin, which is the main ingredient in pepper spray. Capsaicin can add flavour and spiciness to food, but can also cause an extreme burning sensation which can last for minutes or even hours. Capsaicin is a natural oil found in all chilies.
Drink milk There’s a protein found in milk called casein that acts like a detergent against capsaicin. It’ll actually pull the capsaicin compounds away from the nerve receptor binding sites in your mouth. Drink at least a half cup, making sure you rinse your mouth well first. You can spit it out, but you won’t get as much relief in your throat that way. The colder the milk is, the more effective it tends to be against the burning sensation.
If you don’t have any milk, you may be able to coat the inside of your mouth to soothe it with cottage cheese, cold plain yogurt, sour cream or ice cream which should also contain the milk protein called casein. Drink sugar water Mix a tablespoon or more of sugar with a cup water and use it to rinse out your mouth. Cold sugar solution is just about as effective as whole milk, but the relief only lasts while the mixture is still in your mouth so you’ll need to keep rinsing and spitting until the pain subsides.
Drink alcohol Capsaicin is soluble in alcohol, so drinking a beer or a shot can help wash it away. It’s not nearly as effective, however alcohol is a solvent to capsaicin, not a neutralizer, so it will break it loose, but it may just spread it around. Some Other ‘Folk’ Remedies Eat some cucumber. This is, in fact, a common way to deal with too much heat in the food in Indonesia and Thailand. Touch the affected area with a soft corn tortilla (lips, mouth, etc.) Curries and other hot dishes are almost always accompanied by copious amounts of rice in India, because starchy foods combat the burning sensation. Potato will work as well, as will bread.
Use salt. Eating salty chips can soothe the burn. Try honey. Try eating a raw carrot. Just take a bite and the burn will significantly diminish. Coconut milk works very well to cut the burn and modulate the heat level of a spicy recipe. Ice Cream for the same reasons as cold milk, and it has sugar. Eat a banana – the texture and sugar content may help soothe the burn. Eat some chocolate.
The capsaicin in peppers is more soluble in fat than aqueous based solutions (ie beer, water, even low-fat milk).$ Eat an apple. Eating a lemon wedge, juiced or whole (with all juice), and the acid will help breakdown the oily stuff.
