Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site rabbit.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!alice!rabbit!wolit From: wolit@rabbit.UUCP (Jan Wolitzky) Newsgroups: net.cooks Subject: Re: hot peppers, ref Salsa Message-ID: <2555@rabbit.UUCP> Date: Fri, 2-Mar-84 10:32:56 EST Article-I.D.: rabbit.2555 Posted: Fri Mar 2 10:32:56 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 3-Mar-84 11:01:26 EST Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill Lines: 13 What Ed Gould had to say about peppers being a nerve stimulant and not an irritant is pure hogwash. If you think that blistering is a nervous system reponse, and not a local phenomenon, just spray your finger with a local anesthetic and hold a match to it. It will blister just fine. Blistering is also, contrary to Gould, perfectly adaptive: it form a nice, watery heat shield between the heat source and the goodies that lie below skin. Peppers *ARE* an irritant, and the burn or pain you feel when you eat them is because of the response of the nervous system to the histamines released when the surface cells are damaged by irritating oils. The same effect is caused by any damaging substance, like acids or alkalis. Jan Wolitzky, AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ