How to Cool Burns from Chili Peppers

via wikihow

1. Drink milk. There’s a protein found in milk called casein that acts like a detergent against capsaicin. It’ll actually pull the capsaicin compounds away from the nerve receptor binding sites in your mouth. Drink at least a half cup, making sure you rinse your mouth well first. You can spit it out, but you won’t get as much relief in your throat that way.
   • The colder the milk is, the more effective it is against the burning sensation.
   • If you don’t have any milk, you may be able to soothe your mouth with the casein in cottage cheese, cold plain yogurt or ice cream.
2. Drink sugar water. Mix a tablespoon or more of sugar with a cup water and use it to rinse out your mouth. Cold sugar solution (10%) at 20°C/68°F is about as effective as whole milk at 5°C/41°F^[2] but the relief only lasts while the mixture is still in your mouth^[3] so you’ll need to keep rinsing and spitting until the pain subsides.
3. Drink alcohol. Capsaicin is soluble in alcohol, so drinking a beer or a shot can help wash it away. It’s not nearly as effective, however, as milk.
   
4. Rinse your mouth with oil. Capsaicin is also soluble in vegetable oils^[4] so swishing some around in your mouth might help. Keep in mind that oil has been found to be only slightly more effective than water in relieving pepper burns, so use it only if nothing else is available.

5. Eat some chocolate. The capsaicin in peppers is more soluble in fat than aqueous based solutions (ie beer, water, even low-fat milk). The high fat content of most chocolate bars will help to remove some of the capsaicin from your mouth. Milk chocolate generally has a higher fat content than dark chocolate and therefore should give better relief.

Unverified Folk Remedies

1. Try any of the following folk remedies, but keep in mind that these methods have not been verified in a reliable third party source.
   • Cheese, for the same reason as milk.
   • Eat some cucumber. This is in fact a common way to deal with too much heat in the food in Indonesia and Thailand.
   • Curries and other hot dishes are almost always accompanied by copious amounts of rice in India, because all starchy foods combat the burning sensation. Potato will work as well, as will bread. Chew well, so that the tongue is “washed” by the rice, potato or bread.
   • Use salt. Salting the food or eating salty chips can soothe the burn.
   • Try honey. Sopapillas with honey are served with spicy foods in some restaurants.
   • Pepto Bismol may stop the burn.
   • Try taking a tablet of Benadryl.
   • Try eating a raw carrot. There’s no trick to swishing it around. Just take a bite and the burn will significantly diminish.
   • White toothpaste can significantly reduce the burning from habañero oils on the skin. It will likely work in the mouth and/or with other peppers.
   • Coconut milk works very well to cut the burn and modulate the heat level of a spicy recipe.
   • Bite into a slice of lemon, orange or other citrus fruit or drink a citrus juice. The acid in the fruit will relieve the burn.
   • Ice Cream for the same reasons as cold milk, and it has sugar

Yum Yum Yum

I really want to make this (via The Cooking Photographer via Design Crush). Yum Yum!

Cold Tomato Zucchini Pasta Salad with Sherry Shallot Vinaigrette

Sherry Shallot Vinaigrette

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup Sherry Vinegar
1 Shallot, chopped
1/ 2 clove Garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Salt
Lots of fresh ground black pepper to taste

Puree the ingredients together in a small processor or blender. Set aside.

Tomato Zucchini Pasta
1 pound riccioli shaped pasta, or any favorite shape
2 medium sized zucchini, or 1 large thinly sliced into half moons
1 cup chopped scallions
3-4 ripe Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 recipe Sherry Shallot Vinaigrette
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil the pasta according to the package directions in heavily salted water. Drain and rinse in cold water.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the Sherry Shallot Vinaigrette.

3. Toss the pasta together in a large bowl with the dressing and the rest of the ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or store covered in the refrigerator until chilled.

This is North Carolina.

Let me preface this by saying that this may sound ridiculously cliche, but I don’t really care.

Tonight I went to the Old Crow Medicine Show concert at Koka Booth Amphitheater, in Cary, NC. It was a unique tour in that each of the bands played their sets, but members of the other bands would periodically come out for a little jam session. At some points there were 10+ people on stage playing all my favorite instruments — fiddle, steel guitar, harmonica, banjo, guitar, upright bass, etc. It was fabulous. We were in the lawn seats, not in the pit, and were the ONLY ones standing. This made me mad, but I didn’t really care about the people around me. How could you NOT stand and dance to Old Crow and the Felice Brothers and David Rawlings?

I was with some of my favorite people. I took a bite of a delicious NC bbq sandwich with some sweet potato fries and some sweet tea.

I started becoming semi nostalgic about leaving NC in less than a month. So, when the entire crew of musicians started playing Wagon Wheel, I was epically connected. It was a STEAMING hot NC summer night — though it was 10pm it was still 100% humidity and 90 degrees. This should have bothered me, but I embraced it. The words, “if I die in Raleigh, at least I will die free” were that much more poignant in the heat. I felt connected to the band, connected to the sounds, and connected to my state. I love Old Crow, I love North Carolina. I will miss you NC. I will miss you Raleigh!