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capsaicin is it true about Capsaicin

dani8538

dani8538

translate from he.wikipedia.org:

"Capsaicin is an oily organic compound, commonly used as a means of protection against eating certain fruits before ripening (maturing)"

so peppers are hotter before ripening/maturing?
 
My experience is that peppers tend to continue to get hotter the longer you leave them on the vine, which would mean that capsaicin continues to build in the pod as it grows. This means that the ripe pod would be hotter than an unripe pod simply because it has had longer to build up capsaicin before being picked.
 
I think you read it wrong, I think its saying capsaicin is used/evolved to protect the fruit before they rippen' this is explaining it in a evolutionary perspective. capsaicin will probably continue to accumulate as it matures.
 
depends on how "ripe" they get...here is an abstract from some research that tells you about maximum capsaicin content in "days after fruit set" terminilogy...the information refers to the habanero, de arbol, and piquin...

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf970972z
 
I think the "days after fruit set" argument would definitely change with different climates/conditions.
I look at it at an evolutionary level. Pods develop their heat before ripening as a defence mechanism against animals which prefer sweet ripe pods
 
POTAWIE said:
I think the "days after fruit set" argument would definitely change with different climates/conditions.
I look at it at an evolutionary level. Pods develop their heat before ripening as a defence mechanism against animals which prefer sweet ripe pods
Click to expand...

I also prefer sweet ripe pods. Does that make me an animal? :D
 
Dani8538 said:
translate from he.wikipedia.org:

"Capsaicin is an oily organic compound, commonly used as a means of protection against eating certain fruits before ripening (maturing)"

so peppers are hotter before ripening/maturing?
Click to expand...

I think you misinterpreted it -- what they are saying is that the oil is designed to protect against it being eaten as it develops (ie. before ripening) but it does not say there is more\less of the oil before reaching maturity and if you think about it the longer it develops the more of the oil would be produced so it would actually make sense that the pod is it's hottest just as the oil production stops (right as it reaches maturity) rather than as it is maturing or after it is fully mature and beginning to decay.
 
From my understnding at the point of ripening capsacain is no longer produced but may be converted by the plant into sugars so possibly it could loose heat, i may well be wrong though,.also capsacain is found in higher concentrations in plants that are in high humidity/damp conditions in the wild, pointing to a anti-fungal property
 
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