I know why hot peppers make your tongue feel like it’s on fire, but why does cinnamon candy do the same thing?
In: Biology
Cinnamon candy is hot because of cinnamaldehyde, a chemical found in cinnamon bark. It’s a skin irritant; when put on the tongue, that’s perceived as “hot”. Cinnamon candies contain a fair bit of it.
The hot peppers have a component called Capsaicin which is an irritant and causes a burning sensation. You can actually buy just Capsaicin and try it out and get the same result.
Also, in case you’re wondering, we have similar receptors in the anus so when we expel Capsaicin, your anus is burning in the same way your mouth burns.
According to our tour guide at the Tabasco factory, cinnamon red hots contain extracts from the pulp leftover from fermenting and straining Tabasco peppers.
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