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Why are peppers hot? |
The Five Senses
There are many kinds of very spicy peppers in the world, and the thing that makes them so spicy is called “capsaicin,” a chemical made naturally by the pepper as it grows.
Just like other plants and animals evolved to be the way they are out of need, peppers produced the capsaicin and became spicy because it benefited them in some way as a plant. Some researchers think that capsaicin helps a pepper plant to avoid getting sick with certain kinds of diseases (like fungi) that other plants can get. Being so spicy also probably helped peppers to be eaten by some animals but not all – plants that bear fruit like it when their fruits are eaten because it helps their seeds to be dispersed. But being eaten by animals who will chew up the seeds is less helpful; by being hot and spicy, peppers were only eaten by certain helpful diners… like spicy-food-loving humans!
Hot uses for spicy peppers!
Before people were able to store foods in refrigerators and freezers, it was easy for food to go bad quickly. One likely reason that peppers became such a popular ingredient (and particularly in warm climates where foods go bad faster) was that their spicy capsaicin was able to help kill germs!
Luckily, we now have better food storage and knowledge about how to know when food has gone bad and when it’s safe to eat. But we still eat peppers and use them to season our food because we enjoy the spice it gives to our meals!
What’s your favorite spicy food dish??
