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I remember the first time I ate a ghost pepper. I was at a dingy little market in New Orleans and the guy who handed me the little red bulb of ass-fire merely smiled when I asked how hot it was.

Don’t get me wrong, I like a bit of Tobasco on my bacon and avo toasty, but anything more than that usually gets my hands flapping like a teenage girl about to meet Lewis Capaldi.

And so, I took the ‘2007 Guinness World Records-certified hottest chilli pepper in the world’, and popped it into my mouth. The next few hours are thankfully erased from my memory, as trauma often does to our fragile mind, but what I do know is that when the missus says giving birth is the worst kind of pain a human can endure, I always call bullshit.

Exactly why some people prefer to scorch their insides with hot spicy food is a mystery to chilli-wussies like me, but to most, the spiciness is not a flavour, but a sensation. And the science actually backs this up.

The spiciness from chillies comes from the ingredient capsaicin, which when ingested causes actual pain to the body and causes it to fight this threat by releasing pleasure-causing hormones called endorphins. These make you feel happy and high even as you cry for milk and a tub of gelato.

Doubling down on the endorphins, a rush of adrenaline is released as the culinary magma burns through your digestive tract, and along with the happy hormones, you feel like you just had the best cross-training sesh of your life.

Chemicals in hot peppers cause us pain, but they can also be harmful to bacteria, viruses, and other microbes. Before refrigeration, hot peppers were often used to help preserve food and ward off bacteria in hotter parts of the world. This was integral to food safety; hot peppers were literally life savers.

Most people who prefer their spicey food extra hot build up a tolerance over time, much like with any other drug. It’s not uncommon for peeps to search out hotter food and spices as they get older, and there is even a subculture that has developed around chillies over the years.

The origin of chilli cultivation can be traced back to the indigenous people of the Tehuacán plain (in modern-day Mexico). 8,000 years ago. There is good proof that chillies were the first domesticated crop in America.

Whether you like your Scoville’s in the millions depends a great deal on how much spice your diet had as you grow up.

Although it is normal for our tastebuds to change over time, with continued exposure to hot, spicy foods, the brain begins to read the hit of spice as enjoyable rather than painful, and soon that ghost chilly is nothing but a happiness-inducing treat. It’s classic Pavlov stuff, similar to how a single shot of tequila doesn’t get you messed up as it used to when you were in uni.

Being able to handle your Scoville’s has become a trend on social media, and these days ‘spice challenges’ are causing a lot of people to eat insanely hot food, like our poor friend Adam Moran below.

It’s been nearly 20 years since my experience with the infamous Louisiana Ghost Pepper, but I still scream myself awake some nights, drenched in sweat and clutching my butt. Even though my nine-year-old already eats hotter food than me, I’ll wait a few years before I casually offer him a ghost pepper with a knowing smile.

It’s not mean, it’s simply a right of passage on any spicy journey.

[sources:elitedaily&cookinggenie