Invitation to all hot pepper lovers

Hi all, I love to eat hot peppers. I love hot sauce, and I always spice up anything that is spicable! (no dessert food). As a chemist, I have always wondered, "how could I extract *capsaicin from hot peppers to make a potent spice sauce?"

I have messed around a bit, and have come up with a crude extraction which extracts the capsaicin and **capsaicinoids in the form of an oil. The oil is similar in consistency to molasses, and boy, is it ever hot! I touch the end of a toothpick to the oil, and poke my tongue... And I will be suffering nicely :)

If anyone is interested, I will post my extraction method. In order for me to justify all that typing, I will need to see at least five people interested.

All fellow chemists, I'd invite to join me in trying to find a more potent extract. The molecular formula of capsaicin is: C18H27NO3. Now you see that nitrogen atom leads me to believe that an acid/base solution would be possible... But with all that hydrocarbon hanging off, it may just turn out to be a hellishly hot detergent!

Anyways, thanks all for reading this, and I hope that all of our minds together will be able to come up with the best extraction possible! :)
Happy spicing,
Borislav


*Capsaicin is the chemical in hot peppers which binds to nerve cells and triggers a pain impulse similar to being burned.

**Compounds similar to capsaicin, but providing their own unique burn.

It reads like an advert for a chemical.

tell us

lol Salty

I do not have a love for spice, but one of my old friends does. Sometimes my kids go a little crazy with the spice and we say they just pulled a "Roxanna" (my friend). It seems she can't taste spice at all so I say her "spice buds are broken" :lol:

Much success on your quest.

I love my hot peppers, but I'm not sure about the extract.

The extract is so that you only need to put a small amount into your food to make it spicy, thus rendering the flavor unchanged. I hate when my spaghetti sauce tastes like hot sauce!

This sounds awesome, I love spicy food.

Real men just be done with it and drink hydrochloric acid.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xei

Real men just be done with it and drink hydrochloric acid.

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That sounds pretty tough, but if you ask me, you're not a true man until you've successfully boiled a litre of drain cleaner and survived...

Anyways it seems like there will be enough interest, so be expecting my method within the week. I just want you all to try to tweak the method and post back what techniques yielded the most potent demon ichor!
Happy spicing!
-Borislav

Ps. don't actually boil drain cleaner!

I have a couple Habanero plants growing in my garden as we speak. I've put them in salsa, and even dehydrated them and made a more potent and hotter type of Crushed Red Pepper to put on my Pizza and whatever else.

I put spice on everything. If I were to name my top 20 favorite dishes, all of them would be spicy in some way. I've delt with some of the hottest sauces out there. I've eaten way too many peppers because someone has "dared" me to, thinking I wouldn't be able to handle it. I walk into Thai Takeout places and ask them to give me the spiciest batch of Chicken Pad Thai they can muster, and even then I'm still not satisfied. I order the hottest wings at bars every single time, and when the waitress warns me how hot they are it just excites me further. Hell, I was eating some Burger King a few hours ago, and I was dousing my burger in some very tasty hot sauce I picked up from Red Hot & Blue.

So to answer your question, yes I am a chile head! And I would love to know the process in which you are able to extract pure capsaicin! I have a whole lot more Habanero Peppers still growing on the vine that are just asking for it.

Okay guys, here it is. Just read the safety disclosure before your attempt so that you know the dangers and can prevent them.

1. Dehydrate as many peppers as you can (I used 1lb of Scotch Bonnets from the grocer's because my plants weren't ready).
2. Once dehydrated FULLY (no H2O left in them to screw things up), crush to a powder in a mortar and pestle.
3. Put the powder in (a) 750ml mason jar/s.
4. Fill the mason jar to about 1" above the peppers with 99% Isopropyl alcohol.
*NOTE it is critical that you use 99% IPA. If you use 70% IPA, just pack up and leave.
5. Leave the alcohol to sit for any time between 1.5 hours and 3 days, shaking periodically to mix the solution.
6. When the alcohol is a bright orangeish red (these are the capsaicinoid oils), place the oil into a large enough PYREX beaker with a narrow enough lip to attach to a retort stand or the likes.
*NOTE you must use PYREX or another brand of tempered glass, or you will encounter serious, serious issues!
7. You want to boil out most of the IPA by placing beaker on or over either; a) an electric hot plate, b) a Bunson burner, c) a camp stove (mildly dangerous).
*NOTE watch for boilover. I've seen my fair share, and they are terrifying when the solution is as flammable as IPA. Also you don't want caspsaicinoids in your eyes!
8. After you carefully boiled off most of the IPA, you will be left with either a deep, deep red liquid, or a black liquid (depending on concentration; Black is stronger).
9. Put some of this liquid into a tiny ~1ml vial so it's full half way, and slowly boil it off. You do not want to spill this nectar so boil slowly!
10. As soon as there is more room in the ~1ml vial, refill it until all of the solution is in the vial.
11. Slowly boil until alcohol smell is no longer present.
12. You will be left with a black oil, the consistency of molasses. This is it. Barely anything, but it's strong!
13. Test your demon ichor by touching the end of a toothpick to it, and imagine what a few drops could do to a pot of chili!
14. Store your demon ichor in the fridge, where the oil hardens, and be sure to play a prank on your wife ;)

Safety disclosure and tips:
-Be warned of the highly flammable nature of 99% IPA. This proof of alcohol burns at the same octane as jet engine fuel. DO NOT allow you're solution to boil-over into open flame. It will erupt and cause a massive chemical fire!
-Bring solution to a boil SLOWLY. If you just go straight for it on full heat, you will cause boil-over.
-Be warned of the nature of capsaicinoids. They will cause painful tingling in any exposed skin. Flush exposed skin in IPA immediately.
-Perform the boiling concentration, as outlined in steps 7&8 OUTDOORS. IPA fumes are nasty, and will cause brain cell loss at high levels of exposure.
-If using an open flame (Bunson burner, camp stove), please set up a proper retort stand or something of that nature. Something secure. This is nasty stuff you're working with, you don't want to have to clean up a spill.
-Always wear safety goggles, disposable facemask and close-fitting latex or rubber gloves. (just standard procedure).
-And last but not least... Have fun!

Oh and also, please report back to me any tweaks you have made to my method which yield a stronger or larger quantity of capsaicinoids.

Good luck to all, and to all a good spice!
-Borislav