Shopping, Cooking, Baking

What To Do When Your Mouth Is On Fire From Red Hot Chili Peppers

November 4, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

I was in a restaurant that specializes in chili – hot, hotter, and hottest. Four large thirtyish guys were sitting at the table next to mine. One guy ordered, “hottest,” with the kind of look on his face that says “I can handle it, no problem.”

Shortly after this big, burly guy dug into his chili he was sitting glassy eyed, rivulets of sweat dripping off of his bald head, practically unable to speak. The waitress, obviously having seen this happen before, came running over with a glass of milk with orders to “Drink up.”

Have you ever had this reaction to very spicy food — maybe even from a dish from your own kitchen when you got a little too heavy-handed with the chili powder? Or perhaps, like this guy, from being a little too macho and ordering “hottest” after assuring everyone that you can handle really hot and spicy food – despite warnings from the waitstaff.

What Causes The Burn?

Capsaicin is mostly responsible for the “heat” in chili peppers. The amount in different kinds peppers varies widely. Environmental factors and the maturity of the pepper also affect the “burn” factor.

Chiles grown in hot dry climates tend to be a little hotter and the capsaicin content in a pepper is the highest when peppers reach full maturity. Habanero peppers are always extremely hot because of their high capsaicin content but ancho and paprika chili peppers can be just as mild as a bell pepper.

How To Tame The Flame

What do you do when your mouth is sending a five-alarm signal, your face is on fire, and you are sweating enough to water every plant in the room?

To stop the mouth flames you need to neutralize the burning heat from the capsaicin that binds to your taste buds. Remember that you want to neutralize the capsaicin, not just make your mouth feel better, too (although that’s also an objective).

Solutions

Ice and water will feel pretty good, but it’s only a temporary feel-good fix. The burning pain will come roaring back. Capsaicin is soluble in both alcohol and fat so full fat dairy and alcohol are possible solutions.

Neutralizing the capsaicin will be the most effective. How do you do that? The most common things to counteract the heat of chilies are full fat dairy, acids, and sugar. They may all have some degree of effectiveness.

Capsaicin is soluble in alcohol and fat, and sometimes beer is suggested as a solution because the alcohol will help to neutralize the capsaicin molecules. But remember that beer is about 95% water and won’t really neutralize the capsaicin clinging to your tongue. The harder stuff might help but you’d have to drink a lot of it and you’d end up feeling no pain for other reasons.

Acid can cut through the heat so try vinegar, lemon or lime juice, or anything acidic that doesn’t mess with the taste of your food. Now you know why you often see lemon or lime wedges served with spicier food. Gives beer with lime new meaning, doesn’t it?

High fat dairy products like milk, cheese, sour cream, yogurt, and ice cream will coat your mouth and can break the bonds capsaicin forms with the nerve endings – and, since they’re cold, they feel pretty good, too. There’s a reason that spicy Mexican food is often served with sour cream and cheese.

Sugars bind to pain receptors more readily than capsaicin so sweet things might work, too. Sugar, fruit, honey, molasses, even carrots have all been used. Highly sweetened non-carbonated drinks may work. Try some sweet tea. Hoisin may work for Asian dishes or Lassi (sweet and dairy combination) if you are in an Indian restaurant. Have some fruit for dessert – it’s cold, sweet, and the more acidic fruit, like citrus and pineapple, add another layer of potential pain relief.

Has Your Perfect Pumpkin Ever Caved In?

October 17, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

One day your pumpkin is bright orange with a nice sturdy skin – looking just glorious. The next day it has collapsed in on itself and is just a slimy orange mess. What happened?

Many commercially available “Halloween” pumpkins are specifically grown to be oversized, thin-walled, with a huge seed pocket and a relatively small proportion of flesh, perfect for carving funny or scary faces. The smaller sugar pumpkins have more fleshy pumpkin meat for cooking and often have better flavor and texture.

A bit of pumpkin trivia: Pumpkins are a type of squash and are a member of the gourd family – think squash, cucumbers, and melons. We think of pumpkins as vegetables, but biologically they’re a fruit because they come from a flower and have seeds.

How To Avoid Pumpkin “Cave-In”

Because pumpkins come in many sizes, shapes, and colors you can look for one that appeals to your creative self. But, to avoid pumpkin “cave-in”:

Pick one with no cuts, bruises, or soft spots and with flesh that feels hard and doesn’t give easily. According to a pumpkin grower at my local farmers’ market, organisms can easily get inside any cut in the flesh – even a small nick — and cause rot. Your perfect pumpkin will be great one day and the next day it has totally caved-in on itself.
My farmers’ market source also told me that pumpkins can heal themselves (really, that’s what he said) – if you see a cut in the flesh, expose the cut to air and keep it dry.
There’s some chance that if your pumpkin is greenish in color you can leave it in a cool dry spot – not refrigerated – and it will ripen and turn orange.
A pumpkin’s stem should be attached, but don’t use it to pick the pumpkin up. Stems break off easily and can leave potential entry spots for organisms to invade and cause the dreaded pumpkin cave-in.
Gently tap your pumpkin and listen for how hollow it sounds. Lift it (not by the stem) to get an idea of how dense it is. The heavier a pumpkin is, the thicker its walls. If you’re going to carve a Jack-o’-lantern, thick walls will block the candlelight and no one will be able to see your fantastic (or maybe not so fantastic) carving.
Tall, oblong-shaped pumpkins are often stringier inside — which makes it difficult to make precise cuts.
Store your pumpkin carefully, especially if you pick it off the vine. You can toughen-up, or cure, a fresh-picked pumpkin by keeping it in a dry place without handling or disturbing it. Curing toughens the rind and makes it less prone to rot.

After The Carving . . .

A carved pumpkin starts to dry and shrivel up as soon as it’s cut and exposed to air.

To keep your jack-o’-lantern fresh longer:

Keep it cool and out of direct sunlight
Spray it with an anti-transpirant (like Wilt-Pruf and other brands).
If you’re having a party or just want a big “reveal,” drape your pumpkin with a damp towel until just before show time.
Protect your masterpiece from animals who might find it appealing.
Don’t leave your Jack-o’-lantern outside if there’s a threat of frost.

Do Your Kitchen Cabinets, Fridge, And Desk Drawers Need A Cleanse?

September 26, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Summer is over. Soon many of us will be stocking our kitchens with Halloween candy and then enough Thanksgiving food to feed hordes of Pilgrims. It might be time to take stock of what’s leftover from the lazy days of summer eating.

Are there leftovers from your Labor Day barbecue, a random piece of birthday cake, ice cream containers with just a little bit left, an open bag of mini chocolate chips in case you decide to bake some cookies? Do you really need the gigantic box of cereal from Costco or the two extra jars of peanut butter that were on sale? Do you have some mini candy bars tucked in the corner of your desk?

Hey, we’re all guilty of storing food in preparation for the next blackout or surprise onslaught of family. The problem is that the extra food is not conducive to managing anyone’s weight. Why? Because usually if it’s there, someone will eventually eat it, whether they’re hungry or not. And, usually the kind of food that’s hanging around isn’t picked fresh from the garden – most likely it’s processed and/or fatty, salty and sweet.

The Kitchen Cleanse

Take a look in your fridge, your cupboards, your desk, and kitchen drawers. What’s in there? Why did you buy it and when? Do you really need it – or does it call your name when you really don’t want to eat but can’t escape the pull of the food that’s all too available.

You might want think about what prompts you to buy large quantities of food that tempts you and that you really don’t need to eat. Knowing why you buy is key to developing some good shopping habits. Doing a “cleanse” of your cupboards, the fridge, and drawers to get rid of what tempts you is a good way to prevent gorging — or even nibbling — on hundreds of excess and probably unhealthy calories. Remember: See It = Eat It.

9 Ways Supermarkets Get You To Spend More Money

September 23, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Supermarkets have your shopping experience down to a science. They arrange and display their merchandise in ways that encourage you to buy both more products and the type or brand of product that they want to sell. Here are 9 ways they get you to put more items into your cart which ultimately means more items scanned at the register.

1. Is the product on a high, middle, or low shelf?

Have you ever heard something described as “top shelf”? That usually refers to really good, or “top flight” (expensive) stuff. In supermarkets, the location of where products are placed sends subtle signals that are designed to affect your purchase decisions. The most expensive products generally are on the highest or top shelves. Lower shelves house “destination” products — the ones you need, look for, and will buy regardless of price. The bottom shelf has the least popular or generic products (where’s the flour and sugar in your market?). Eye level shelves, known as “reach,” (reach out your arm) hold high impulse purchases, products that are competitive, or ones that are the most enticing.

2. What does the market want you to buy?

Supermarkets are filled with free-standing bins and shelves and with end caps — the shelves at the very end of aisles in the market. There seem to be so many that you’re in danger of knocking into them with your cart as you try to get from one aisle to another. But, the crowding and the obvious placement means that you’ll usually end up checking them out for specialties or bargains. The products on or in them are either promoted products that have a high profit margin for the store, are marked with a very low price, or carry a manufacturer’s promotion like a coupon or reduced price. “Dump bins” or “offer bins” usually are a jumble of items being closed-out and seem to uniformly signal “cheap price.” Can you easily walk by big bins or specialty displays without at least looking?

3. Do you see a colorful mosaic of fruit and vegetables?

In produce departments, the displays of green vegetables are usually alternated with brightly colored produce. The mosaic of beautifully colored fruits and vegetables is designed to draw your eye. For instance, when you walk into Whole Foods, you’re instantly hit with what they want you to see/buy/eat. Produce is right up front, arranged by shades of color, and artfully displayed in black bins so the produce color really stands out and draws your attention. According to a retail consultant, they’re priming you – giving you the impression that what you see is as fresh as possible – that way you’re prepared to spend more.

4. Why are eggs and milk located in the back of the store?

We all go to the supermarket to buy lots of things – but most frequently the market is a destination for things like milk, eggs, and bread. In many markets those destination purchases are in the farthest corner of the store. The more items you have to walk by to get to your destination purchase – milk, bread, eggs — the more opportunities you have to buy other things you walk by that suddenly you absolutely must have.

5. Why are batteries and magazines near the cash register?

Have you noticed that impulse purchases like magazines, gum, and candy, and even batteries and seasonal items like sunscreen, are near the cash register (even though you can also find them elsewhere in the store)? While you wait to pay, the displayed items or things that are impulsive buys (gee, I might need more AA batteries), may entice you to toss one or two items onto the checkout counter. Of course the low level – or kid in cart-level — displays also entice kids to grab candy from them and more often than not, to avoid a scene, parents give in and that chocolate bar gets rung up, too.

6. Is there a café or coffee bar in the front of the store?

Some markets now have cafes, coffee bars, or places to sit and eat the food you have purchased. In many Whole Foods Markets the eating areas are very near the entrance. A branding design expert says the intent is to get you in the mood for shopping. As soon as you walk in and you see other people enjoying the products that you can buy and then eat, it gives you incentive to purchase and eat them, too.

7. How large is your shopping cart?

How big are some of the shopping carts – especially in the bigger or newer stores where there are nice wide aisles? Or, how about the stores with kid sized carts, too? You end up filling – and buying – an adult sized (perhaps oversized) cart’s worth of groceries and a kid-sized cart of groceries, too. How many adults can tell a child that they aren’t going to buy what the child has put into his or her own cart? A retail consultant’s firm calculated that by increasing the size its shopping baskets a store can boost its revenue by up to 40% — the reason that over the past three years Whole foods has increased the size of its shopping baskets.

8. Do you hear music In the air – and not just through your ear buds?

From a branding design expert: hearing old favorite songs while you shop in a store helps you form a quick emotional bond with the store and you feel that the store “gets you.” In Whole Foods you very likely might hear hits from the ‘80s and ‘90s. Don’t you have a tendency to buy more when you’re relaxed and in a comfortable atmosphere?

9. What color are the price stickers?

The color of the sales stickers on your merchandise, especially in bigger stores, is not just a random choice. Here’s why: yellow and red signs and stickers elicit the biggest consumer response. Heads up – especially when you see a nice red or yellow sale sticker stuck on something – it might be destined to end up in your cart!

5 Ways Your Plates, Glasses, Forks And Spoons Can Save You Calories

September 9, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

If you’re full, stop eating and clear your plate right away. If it hangs around in front of you, you’ll keep picking at it until there’s nothing left. An exception – a study has found that looking at the “carnage” – the leftover bones on your plate from barbecued ribs or even the number of empty beer bottles in front of you – can serve as an “environmental cue” to stop eating.
Drink from a tall, thin glass instead of a short, wide one. You’ll drink 25%-30% less. People who were given short wide glasses poured 76% more into them than people who were given tall slender glasses — and they believed that they had poured less! Even experienced bartenders poured more into a short, wide glass than they did into a taller, thinner one.
3. Use a (smaller) fork and knife instead of your fingers, a teaspoon rather that a tablespoon. It takes longer, requires more effort, and provides a smaller “shovel” for getting food into your mouth. Chopsticks slow you down even more. Chew your food instead of wolfing it down. If you have to work at eating your food – cutting with a knife for instance – you’ll eat more mindfully than if you pick food up with your fingers and pop it into your mouth.
Use a smaller plate. We eat an average of 92% of what we serve ourselves. We pile more food onto larger plates, so a larger plate means we eat more food. A two inch difference in plate diameter—decreasing the plate size to ten inches from 12 inches—would mean a serving that has 22% fewer calories. It’s a smaller serving but not small enough to leave you still hungry and heading back for seconds.
Get those serving dishes off of the table. If most of your meals are family style with bowls and platters of food brought to the table for everyone to help themselves, keep the serving dishes off of the table and onto the counter if you want to save some calories. When serving dishes are left on the table men eat 29% more and women 10% more than when serving dishes stay on the counter. It’s harder to mindlessly shove food into your mouth if you have to get up to get it. Sticking out your fork and shoveling more onto your plate while your butt remains firmly planted in your chair makes it far too easy to munch without much thought about the quantity of food that’s going into your mouth.

Want more tips — especially if you eat in dining halls of any kind? Get my new book, now available on Amazon — 30 Ways to Survive Dining Hall and Dorm Room Food: Tips to Avoid the Freshman 15.