I was taking apart a Mexibelle pepper, which is a little hot (less than a jalapeno[1]), to get at the seeds. Put them on a paper towel, folded it up to dry and labeled it (they’ll go in an old vitamin jar later; I’ve saved several for this purpose).
Then started reading news again.
When I read at my laptop, I sit with my left hand holding my head up; with the thumb under my chin, my forefinger on my cheekbone, and the other three fingers resting on my upper lip, just under my nose (only the middle finger touching my upper lip). (Well, not always, I move around somewhat, but that’s what I was doing earlier.)
After a few minutes of reading, I noticed my face starting to heat up.
Right now it’s a half hour later, and I’ve washed my hands and face, and my face is *still* heating up! It’s similar to after having eaten a spicy meal, but nothing inside my mouth is hot – it’s mostly my upper lip. And – now I’m sweating! Weird. Better than getting it in my eye, I suppose!
While washing my hands, I wondered whether hot peppers tend to get hotter if they sit for a while, after having been removed from the plant. That’s what triggered the thought in the title: I realized that processes are still happening inside the fruit/vegetable, in their cells. That’s so neat! And it makes sense, that’s why they rot – they’re not able to expel waste, or bring in new nutrients.
Just wanted to both amuse, and warn. :)
Enjoy!
[1] – Did some research as I was going to write "about the same as a jalapeno" based on my taste tests, but, turns out it's far less hot!
https://bonnieplants.com/product/mexibell-pepper/ shows that it's 100 to 500 Scoville heat units. Versus:
https://bonnieplants.com/product/jalapeno-hot-pepper/ shows that it's 2,500 to 5,000. I learned from that page that the pepper is named for the town Jalapa, in Mexico – and, that "jalapeno" should not be capitalized, even though it refers to this proper name.
And they have more info on the scale here. That page ends with: “Allow hot peppers to ripen fully on the vine to obtain their greatest heat potential.” – so that’s the answer to my above question, as to whether they get hotter after removal or not – they don’t.
I ate a jalapeno last night and it was quite hot. Had to then have a tomato with it, and then some squash and zucchini, then a piece of naan bread. Also, decided to stop drinking yesterday, so couldn’t attack the heat with beer. I survived, both the heat and a day without drinking.
