Extracting capsaicin

SadisticPeppers

SadisticPeppers

eXtreme Business
Didn't know where else to put this, so if this belongs in a better forum, then feel free to move it to whatever appropriate place.

Anywho, my aunt was one of the recipients of the first batch of BBQ sauce I made with AJ's puree as a base to make it hot. She holds a PhD in Engineering, and regularly works with chemical extractions in her line of work of making things more efficiently go boom for Uncle Sam. She made mention that something I was already aware of, in that extractions of capsaicin are in fairly high demand for various things, including medicines for neuropathy, pain, and for making IcyHot.

She also let me know that capsaicin is a chemical that is soluble in a high-percentage alcohol solution. So she recommended I look up how to do it, since it may be worth my while And as it turns out, my dehydrator is coming soon, so this method works out well:
  • Dry the peppers to be used for extraction
  • Grind the dried peppers into as fine a powder as is possible (can be done in two stages with a regular blender than a coffee grinder for very fine consistency)
  • Take finely ground powder and put it in a jar of alcohol solution (the higher the better with 95% the recommended amount)
  • Leave it in the jar for a couple of days, shaking the jar every few hours
  • Using either a coffee filter or some other kind of filter that takes care of the particulate matter, strain the mixture through the filter into a bowl or other container
  • Take the resulting liquid and leave it out to allow the alcohol in it to evaporate away to the desired concentration of capsaicin.
Most of the places I've seen do this, they are often left with a ruby-red colored liquid that's rather thick in consistency, somewhat thicker than honey due to capsaicin's waxy nature. Plus, the particulate matter left over can still be used as a chili powder, or can be re-run to extract any capsaicin that may be left over.
 
Definitely! It may be good for small batches to add to chili and the like. For larger batches, of course, you'd have to go bigger.

I also did some research and some of the medicines that use capsaicin as a base only use a tiny amount, in some cases 0.025-0.075%, so extracting capsaicin out of superhots, like Butch T's or TS Morugas may be big business
 
KUH-blam

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Huge-1000ml-Soxhlet-Extraction-Apparatus-70-51-24-40-/370646048824?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item564c39e038
 
elcap,

Nice efficient way to extract the cap, no doubt. My question is simple, what is left in the equation as far as taste when you add say a bunch
or moruga's (chopped fine, placenta, seeds and all) to a sauce versus just adding a small amount of your extracted capsaicin ? Could anyone
tell the difference ?

Rhody...
 
The main difference is that the only things remaining is the capsaicin, plus some of the coloring inherent in the peppers. If the peppers are red, then it'll give a really bright red hue to the extraction, but greens or yellows produce some pretty fierce colors I would imagine. As for flavors, not so much since I don't remember reading anywhere that any flavors in the peppers readily mix in a solution of alcohol. Case in point, the pepper infused vodkas are more about the heat than any flavors added.

One thing I'm anxious to try out with this would be making a pot of chili and adding the extract as opposed to the whole peppers and seeing what difference there is, since I'd like to try it with and without peppers for tasting differences
 
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