The Slow Burn

Appears in
Pepper
Pepper

By Christine McFadden

Published 2008

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Pungency isn’t an immediate sensation; it has a slow onset and a lingering effect ranging from mild sensations of warmth or irritation to blistering noxious pain. If you try White Pepper Shortbread or Strawberry and Black Pepper Ice Cream you might be lulled into thinking the pepper has been left out, but after a mouthful or two you’ll notice a slow and delicious after-burn.

So what is it in pepper and chillies that causes the heat? In pepper it’s a substance called piperine; in chillies it’s capsaicin. The two produce different ‘heat’ sensations. Piperine seems to have more of a bite and its oral burn is relatively short-lived. Capsaicin is burning, lingering and invasive, sometimes bordering on sensory overload – any part of the body that comes in contact with it will feel the long-lasting effect. Measured in Scoville Units (the official measurement for determining the heat of capsaicin), the pungency of piperine is ‘only’ 200,000 SU, compared to 30 million SU for capsaicin from chillies.