Why water won’t put out chilli fire

Water doesn’t put out chilli fire. Chilli heat is capsaicin. It switches on the tongue’s heat sensors, so the mouth feels a fire that isn’t there. And capsaicin barely dissolves in water, so a sip just slides past it. Fat is different: capsaicin can slip into it and let go of the sensors. Fresh coconut milk is almost a quarter fat. Sugar helps too: sweetness can drown out the burn. In a lab test, milk and a sugary drink beat water. We tell you everything you need to know about Bangkok. Follow for more!

Chilli heat is capsaicin, which switches on the mouth’s heat sensors. It barely dissolves in water, so a sip slides past it; fat and sugar ease the burn more, which is why coconut milk and something sweet help.

• Capsaicin, the pungent compound in chilli peppers, causes their burning sensation by switching on TRPV1, a heat sensor in nerve endings that responds to temperatures felt as painful (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021).
• Capsaicin is practically insoluble in cold water (The Merck Index, via PubChem).
• Capsaicin is fat-loving: it can move into fat, which leaves less of it to bind the heat sensors and reduces the burn. Fat, protein and cold each help (Gaiser and Hayes, 2024; Nolden, Lenart and Hayes, 2019).
• Fresh coconut milk, pressed from grated coconut and water, is about 24% fat (USDA FoodData Central).
• In a Penn State test with 72 people, whole milk, skim milk and a sugary fruit drink (about 10% sugar) eased the burn more than water. Every drink, water included, helped a little; the researchers think the sugary drink drowns the burn out with sweetness rather than removing the capsaicin (Nolden, Lenart and Hayes, 2019).
• Whether milk’s main protein, casein, binds capsaicin has not been shown yet: the same study calls for tests of it.

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Sources:
– The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet (4 October 2021): The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021, press release: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2021/press-release/
– PubChem: Capsaicin (CID 1548943), Solubility – citing The Merck Index (15th edition, 2013, p. 308): https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Capsaicin#section=Solubility
– Nolden, Lenart and Hayes (2019): Putting out the fire – Efficacy of common beverages in reducing oral burn from capsaicin. Physiology & Behavior 208:112557: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6620146/
– Penn State News (25 June 2019): Milk is best drink to reduce burn from chili peppers: https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/milk-best-drink-reduce-burn-chili-peppers
– Gaiser and Hayes (2024): Fat, protein, and temperature each contribute to reductions in capsaicin oral burn. Journal of Food Science 89(8):5091–5100: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38955775/
– USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, 2019): Nuts, coconut milk, raw (liquid expressed from grated meat and water), FDC ID 170172: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/170172/nutrients

Facts and sources: https://soibysoi.com/episodes/why-water-wont-put-out-chilli-fire

Illustrations: capsaicin, the heat sensors and the fat droplets are drawn as characters, not to scale.
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