If bell peppers aren’t spicy, then why does it burn to eat them?
My husband loves spicy food, jalapeños and what not. I grew up without eating much spicy food. Taco Bell was about as hot as it got. But he’s always trying to get me to try new things. He often cooks various peppers and jalapeños and just being here when he cooks, I start coughing and my sinuses begin pouring. I finally tried something he made and he didn’t use any spices, just regular bell peppers. He said they don’t have capsaicin so they’re not spicy. But just as I took a bite, my mouth was immediately on fire, my sinuses were pouring, I was sweating and I felt like my throat was closing. Not closing real bad, but it just felt weird. I was coughing and I couldn’t eat anymore. But I didn’t swell up or anything. So why would I react this way if they’re supposedly not spicy? He thinks I might be allergic but I don’t really think so. I mean, maybe, but maybe I just have really sensitive taste buds?
The Scoville scale says they have no heat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale
May 19th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
bell peppers arent spicy.. at all. maybe ur allergic.
May 22nd, 2010 at 5:44 pm
they aren’t spicy, they are sweet. either he tricked you into eating spicy peppers thinking maybe your reaction to them was mental by telling you they were bell peppers or perhaps you are allergic. I can’t think of any other reasons why you would react that way to a bell pepper.
May 25th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
It sounds to me like you are allergic to peppers. Check with your doctor next time you visit, and don’t eat any peppers.
Regards,
Dan
May 29th, 2010 at 3:33 am
You could be allergic, but there’s another possibility: did he cook the bell peppers in the same utensil he’s cooked very spicy foods in? I did that for years – cooked flamingly spicy dishes in a cast iron skillet. Then one day I served a friend a pork chop cooked in that skillet with a tablespoon of apple butter on it – and there was enough capsaicin residual in the pores of the iron that she couldn’t eat it! See, even though one may clean an iron skillet well, the microscopic pores in the iron can retain things like capsaicin.
It is true, though, that bell peppers have no heat. Maybe there was something else he cooked with them that you’re allergic to or had more fire in it than he realized.
May 30th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
I think you are allergic . Be careful. Don’t take any chances.