Topic: Chillies - why do they lose their heat?

[1066]

Basically I'm sure the chillies I froze from last summer have lost their heat over the months in the freezer. Am I right? And if so why?

Just one of those Friday morning questions for you  :D  ;D

Thanks
1066

[goodlife]

Sure?....how did you noticed? I'll come with answer soon.. ;)..yes how..? Did you bit into one..cooked some...?

[1066]

Yes and yes - we used some fresh off the plants - cooked and chopped up - OH is a fan of them! And now when I use them in dishes I find instead of using just 1 and often removing the seeds I'm using 2 or more and including the seeds (made a Thai green curry the other night, very tasty but not enough heat!)

[goodlife]

Ok...did you know that the hottest part of chillies are the seeds and the "white" tissue inside and around seeds..so if you remove these..less the heat...

[goodlife]

oh..just had a another read of your post..you said including the seeds..

[goodlife]

well then....how did you freeze them...as they are?...anything added with them..?
You see I haven't notice freezing having any effect before (and it should not) ..you have truly woken up my greycells ::)

[BarriedaleNick]

Are you sure you just havent got used to the heat?  ;)

I'm not sure freezing should have any effect although I found one ref to parboiling first.

Having said that dried chilis seem to be hotter but I suspect I just use more than I would normally..

[1066]

thanks for the replies - I'm not sure it's just my tastebuds  :-\
I freeze them whole. The ones I'm particularly thinking about are the Thai green chillies - usually pretty firey. The Cayenne ones still have a lovely smokey flavour.

I think I might try drying some this year, but I don't tend to use as many dried ones, not sure why really.

oh well, I'll add some to our curry tonight and see what I think - maybe it's a particular batch  :-\

[PurpleHeather]

I have  noticed that the chillies are not as hot now as they were just after I froze them . They were chopped whole seeds and all.

I have also noticed that dried chillies become less hot with keeping.

As a regular user of chillies/ traveller to the East, I agree that the more you eat them the more you can tollerate the heat, but I have been using them for lots of years and I am certain that the heat fades.

In fact I know people who eat them.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner insist they are fresh for that reason. In fact they have so much chilli in their food, I can not taste their food for the heat.

Point of fact that if you think that you do not like 'spicy' food, build up the quantity, bit by bit and you soon find that food is tasteless without heat.

[1066]

I still wasn't sure  if it was me, or maybe this batch of chillies!
But thanks PurpleHeather - I'm not alone  :)  :) on this !