Why does cooking jalapenos make them more mild?

Question

Why does cooking jalapenos make them more mild?

Answer 1

Cooking in water will take all the heat out...it gets diluted...cook them in oil in a skillet and they get hotter!

Answer 2

The simple answer is, cooking is chemistry!  When you cook foods various chemical reactions occur and change the makeup and taste of the foods.  The heat in most peppers comesfrom a chemical called capsaicin.  The capsaicin binds with receptors on our tounge and mouth the produce the effect of feeling a burning sensation. Interestingly, milk binds more readily to the same receptors which is why if you eat something too 'hot', eating or drinking something with milk in it will relieve the sensation by 'bumping' the capsaicin off of the receptors.

When you cook peppers, it is likely the other ingedients either bind with the capsaicin, changing its chemical makeup or simply dilute it thus reducing the effect.  Oils in the cooked food can also coat the tounge and mouth thus reducing the amount of capsaicin that is in contact with those areas.

Answer 3

The diluting responses sound right, I know we usually roll them a bit on our palms and then grill them and they get nice and hot. My girlfriends brother in-law from Laos loved them like that.

Answer 4

jalapenos range from mild to hot...

TO reduce the heat of the chili. remove the seed. cook it in hot water ( hot water dilutes the heat) and after which you can cook it anyway you like...

the oil in the chili give you the heat. by cooking it you released the extra oil that is in the chili.. the seeds are the hottest...