Some chillies bite hard, and boy does it feel good

Why are South Africans addicted to a food that triggers pain receptors? The answer, writes Shanthini Naidoo, is pure pleasure

The chilli, of the genus capsicum, a member of the nightshade family, is a sexy, dangerously beautiful fruit. It can be addictive, triggering a rush of endorphins, and has aphrodisiac properties.

Starting with a sting on the tongue, which plumps up from an almost allergic reaction, the sensation travels to the sinuses and into the brain, which can't decide if this is pleasure or pain. Steam seems to release from the ears and you are left tingling all over.

Some cannot bear it. Others crave it.

Riëtte de Kock, a sensory specialist at the University of Pretoria's food science department, explains: "The chemical capsaicin stimulates the heat-sensitive pain fibres in the mouth cavity, possibly also the mucous layers of the nose and the eyes. It then activates the trigeminal nerve which codes 'heat' in the mouth.

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"It may cause the nose to run and the eyes to tear. Although you may feel intense pain in the mouth, contact with capsaicin does not actually cause physical damage."

The brain responds to the burning sensation by raising the heart rate, increasing perspiration and releasing endorphins - that happy feeling.

"For this reason capsaicin is sometimes used as a painkiller," says De Kock. It may also increase the appetite and improve the flavour of food. The receptors of those sensation- and adventure-seekers who can't get enough chilli become desensitised to the chemical, which is why we can eat it again and again, eventually finding the burn pleasurable.

"When I arrived in South Africa 50 years ago, chilli was not so popular with the general population," says Mimi Jardim, who developed the insanely popular Nando's chilli sauces. "The Malay spices and Indian curries were popular. Now chilli has become part of the palate. This little ingredient adds so much power to food. We had to create Nando's Extra Hot sauce because people were asking for more and more. They wanted fiery but flavourful."

Plant breeder Bill Kerr says South Africans are now cultivating, bottling, smoking and testing their bravado with chilli. "We tend to prefer rather pungent chillies. Cayenne hybrids and the bullet-shaped serrano pepper are thin- to medium-walled. The thinner the wall and the smaller the chilli, the more pungent it is, with some exceptions."

Kerr says there is more to growing chillies than simple gardening. "It is not like planting a leek. There is something exciting, romantic and mystical about chillies."

block_quotes_start Each variety has a different colour, shape, heat and flavour, which makes growing chillies such a fun hobby block_quotes_end

Lourens Notman is the founder of Chillihead.co.za, an online portal for chilli lovers. One of the judges in last week's Sunday Times Chilli Challenge, Notman says up until the last decade South Africans had access to only about five common varieties of chilli. He now imports 140 types of seed for planting, including potent exotics such as the Carolina Reaper, which can measure up to two million units on the Scoville heat scale (by comparison, the fiery habanero comes in at about 300,000 units).

"The world has become a smaller place, with cultures mixing and mingling," says Notman. "People are experimenting. We want to watch the chillies grow and flower as well as eat the fruit."

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If you ingest too much Reaper-strength chilli, Notman says "the best way to soothe the burning sensation is to eat yoghurt. Dairy products contain pectin, which breaks the link between the capsaicin and the heat receptors in the mouth. Water does not help as the capsaicin is oily. Ice cream, peanut butter, alcohol and vegetable oils are some options that are said to help."

Many people believe the seeds are the hottest part of a chilli, but Notman says the seeds contain no capsaicin. "The hottest part is the placenta, the spongy oil gland in the centre of the pod, to which the seeds are usually attached. If you want to taste a chilli without burning your mouth, start at the tip, which is the mildest part, furthest from the stem where the placenta is attached."

He started obtaining seeds and growing new chilli varieties as a hobby, but it touched a nerve and the demand has spread like wildfire.

"There are so many different types of chillies," says Notman. "Each variety has a different colour, shape, heat and flavour, which makes growing chillies such a fun hobby. It would be incredible to start seeing some of those chillies being used for sauces."