Do Not Drink Water When Your Mouth Is On Fire!

If science is to be believed, then water (no matter how chilled it is) hardly provides any relief to a chili stricken mouth. Even though the liquid is famous for putting out fires, the one in your mouth is different.

Milk To The Rescue!

“Then what do we do?” is your next question, right? Your best bet when battling hot spices is ice cream or milk. The reason behind not going for water is governed by chemistry.

Apparently the water molecules and spice molecules don’t mix well together and have terrible chemistry. By gulping down a gallon you might just be fueling the fire (pun intended)!

The Science

Let’s rewind to chemistry class. Chili peppers contain a substance called capsaicin, which is responsible for making your mouth feel like it’s being destroyed.

As soon as the capsaicin hits your taste buds, a substance called TRPV1 receptor combines with the piquancy of the capsaicin, sending a signal to your brain saying that your mouth’s in for some big trouble.

Capsaicin has non-polar molecules, which can only dissolve with like (other non-polar) molecules. And incidentally, water is made up of polar molecules, which means it’s actually spreading the heat even more.

Milk on the other hand dissolves the painful molecules unlike water. Here’s some visual aid to help you understand things better.