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Receptor downregulation

Armadillo

Armadillo

Chiliac's thread about http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthread.php?t=5406 led me to the question how fast the downregulation of the capsaicin receptors might work. In other words: how fast can you get used to the hot stuff? About three months ago some food my wife cooked was really hot for me. Then I started to eat more chilis and cooked with them. I've always been careful not to "overheat" so I never had real pain. But now the things I cook are sometimes too hot for my wife. And I sometimes have the weird feeling "is there really two habaneros in it, don't taste that hot". I for sure am far away from munching on the whole pods. But I can't believe how fast I got used to that stuff. To me it didn't feel like a change at all.
So what is your experience? How fast did you adapt to jalapenos and cayennes and habs or even nagas? Does tolerance decrease when you pause a while with chilis?
 
I jumped up the ladder pritty quickly but them again, I did start eating the stuff with every single meal I had (breakfest through midnight snacks).

But there still is stuff that lights me up really good (certain extracts) so I've got a ways to go.
 
For me it has been a long process. I remember when I was a kid and thought bbq chips were hot! When I was 15 I started eating hot wings (though they weren't really hot by my standards now). Now I am eating habs in food nearly every day and even ate a whole naga. Never would have imagined that would happen. I think the process of adapting to more and more heat probably varies with each person.
 
I still get my ass kicked from peppers and sauce and I eat it every meal.

when I am drunk I can eat a naga and blur my way through it but even then I still feel it hard.

but I can eat regular table hotsauce like tabasco and franks in large amounts with no problem other than too much salt and vinagar.

that is the main reason I like to have superhot stuff to get the heat without the salt .

as far as tolerance I would say after 2 years of eating habs and extract I have not lost my abbility to feel heat I just dont cry as soon.
 
I agree with IGG, the more hot stuff you eat (or drink) regularly the faster you'll get used to it. For me, fresh chilis seem to have more of an impact than sauces. And it depends on the kind of chilis I eat or that are in the sauces.
I think (and noticed) that your tolerance decreases when you eat less or no hot stuff for a while. In my case, I was in rehab for two months and all I had there were a few bottles of semid hot sauce and not a single fresh pod.
 
Steady upgrade is good..I stared with jalapenos then orange/red habs,Scotch bonnets didn't take long for the taste receeptors to deaden of and agree to more hot sauce and peppers,But still enjoy the mid and lower range the most when im eating pods :)
 
i climbed up in heat really quickly, and pretty soon the hottest thing i could make, wasnt hot enough for me, of course this was only with orange habs, which were the only thing avaiable to me at the time (2 years agoish) i took a break for a while from spicy stuff, about 2 months +/-, and the stuff that wasnt hot to me, became hot again, now that i have access to the more exotic and hotter varieties i eat heat whenever i can, but if you are worried about building up too much of a tolerance, just stop eating hot stuff for a while and it will go back down
 
For me, the road to hab-ville took a while...mainly because it wasn't that available here.

The last few years, habs have gotten more popular, and they are in most stores...so I started in on hab sauces and using small bits of the chiles in stuff. Seems to me that after I got used to hab stuff and was eating it about everyday it was pretty easy to go hotter from there.

There *is* a big leap involved going from 2,500 SHU - 50k SHU...which is the "average" heat from stuff that is normally thought to be HOT in the US...( Jalapeno, Serrano, Cayenne/Tobasco, Most Thai Chiles, etc.) to the real heat of a of a Habanero.

Then, of course, there are the super-hots that most folks have never heard of. ;)

It's a journey...enjoy it eh? :D

-QS
 
QuadShotz said:
It's a journey...enjoy it eh? :D

-QS
Click to expand...

Of course I do!
Some local chiliheads here gave me some Red Savina Garden Sauce they had made. On the lab style Schott-glas bottle they wrote "use carefully". I was afraid of it first. Now I use it "carefully" by the table spoon...
 
Armadillo said:
Of course I do!
Some local chiliheads here gave me some Red Savina Garden Sauce they had made. On the lab style Schott-glas bottle they wrote "use carefully". I was afraid of it first. Now I use it "carefully" by the table spoon...
Click to expand...


Kewlness.
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I, like most of the other "normal" (read not Iggy) people here, took a pretty good while to get up to speed...20 years in fact...it's just been over the past seven that I have gone to habs and only two years ago I was eating Carribean Reds and this year, I am growing my own superhots and let me tell you, I am very careful with them...I do take tiny bites off the fresh pods for that divine taste and aroma, but am careful with the heat...I still haven't got the balls to eat a whole one thus the "Wuss" status I have claimed
 
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