摘要：Tomaž VargazonLet’s talk about capsaicin , the stuff that makes foods taste spicy.让我们来谈谈辣椒素，这种物质使食物尝起来很辣。

正文翻译

Tomaž Vargazon
Let’s talk about capsaicin , the stuff that makes foods taste spicy.

让我们来谈谈辣椒素，这种物质使食物尝起来很辣。

We need to discuss two issues, the first is why it’s so omnipresent in Indian food and why people unused to spicy tastes don’t like it. Capsaicin tastes hot because it, by a quirk of random chance, binds to our heat receptors and lowers the treshold for “hot” signal. In effect it acts as a jammer and causes the sensation of “hot” to fire at normal body temperatures. The heat you feel when eating spicy foods is just your senses misfiring, because of an otherwise harmless chemical. You aren’t being burned or anything, you’re experiencing the sensation of being burnt at normal temperatures already. Clearly not everyone wants to have the feeling of having liquid silver poured into their mouth, then come out the other side a day or so later. These people don’t enjoy spicy foods, obviously.

这里有两个问题需要讨论，第一个是为什么在印度食物中如此普遍，以及为什么不习惯辛辣口味的人不喜欢它。辣椒素因为一种偶然的机遇，与我们的热感受器结合，降低了“辣”的信号阈值，所以尝起来很辣。实际上，它起到了干扰器的作用，使得在正常体温下产生“辣”的感觉。吃辛辣食物时感受到的热量只是你的感官误导了，因为这是一种无害的化学物质。你并没有被烧伤或其他什么，你只是在正常的温度下经历着被烧伤的感觉。显然，并不是每个人都想感受到液态银被倒进口中，然后一两天后再从另一端出来的感觉。这些人显然不喜欢辛辣食物。

Now as to why it’s so present in India and elsewhere. That’s because of its biological function in plants, it’s an antimicrobial agent. Capsaicin defends plans against microbal infections and, since microbes that devour plants aren’t that different from microbes that devour meat, marinating meat in capsaicin-rich marinade protects it from rotting. That’s why Indian food are so commonly meats marinated in a spicy sauce, it’s a way to keep meat edible over a prolonged period of time without refrigiration. In Europe ice was available every year but spicy plants weren’t. Indians used chemical means instead.

现在来谈谈为什么它在印度和其他地方如此普遍。这是因为在植物中它具有生物学功能，它是一种抗微生物剂。辣椒素能保护植物免受微生物感染，而且，由于吃植物的微生物与吃肉的微生物并没有太大区别，所以在富含辣椒素的腌料中腌制肉类可以防止腐烂。这就是为什么印度食物中经常有用辛辣酱腌制的肉类，这是一种在不需要冷藏的情况下延长肉类可食用期的方法。在欧洲，每年都有冰，但是辛辣植物却不常见。印度人选择了化学手段。

That’s why Indian cuisine is spicy and that’s why most Europeans are not used of it. Some love it though, I personally like my food to be a little spicy at times, when used correctly it adds enormously to flavor. There are plenty of people who consider spices to “mask” the flavor of the dish, then use salt freely. Salt does the same thing to the dish as capsaicin does. Adding aromatic spices is no different sauteeing onions before adding meat to the pan. It’s just a different approach to accomplish the same thing: creating an enjoyable dish.

这就是为什么印度菜很辣，也是为什么大多数欧洲人不习惯辣味的原因。然而，有些人却很喜欢，我个人有时候也喜欢我的食物稍微辣一点，当辣椒素被正确使用时，它可以极大地增添风味。有很多人认为香料会“掩盖”菜肴的味道，所以会自由使用盐。盐对菜肴的作用与辣椒素相似。添加芳香的香料和在锅里加肉之前先炒洋葱是没有什么区别的。只是采用了不同的方法来实现同样的目标：创造一个美味的菜肴。

评论翻译

Michael Deloney
Capsicum peppers are relatively new to Indian cuisine, being native to tropical America. Before chillis, other spices served the purpose.

辣椒是相对较新的印度烹饪原料，原产于热带美洲。在辣椒出现之前，其他香料也起到了类似的作用。

Satish C
Piperine, the ‘hot’ agent in peppercorns (which ARE native to India), performs a similar function as capsaicin. It's just that capsaicin is much stronger than piperine and chilly peppers are more easily grown and in a wider range of areas.
peppercorns were one of the key spices for which various ‘East India’ companies sprang up in the European countries.

胡椒粒中的“辣”成分——胡椒碱（胡椒素）与辣椒素具有类似的功能。只是辣椒素比胡椒碱更强烈，而且辣椒更容易种植，在更广泛的地区都可以种植。
胡椒粒是欧洲各国兴起“东印度”公司的关键香料之一。

Subhas Nath
‘Hotness’ through chillis / pepper is such a small part of Indian spices. Indian spices in correct proportions can do wonders. The basic three Indian spices like Dhania(coriander) / Zeera (cumin), haldi (tumeric) are absolutely not hot in anyway. They do not contain any capsaicin.

辣椒/胡椒所带来的“辣味”只是印度香料中的一小部分。正确比例的印度香料可以产生奇妙的效果。像香菜籽（胡荽）/孜然、姜黄（黄姜）这样的基本三种印度香料绝对不辣。它们不含任何辣椒素。

Together with spices like cardamoms(itself of various types) / Mint/ Cinnamon / Saffron /clove /Plenty of other types of rare spices like black cumin/nagkeshar/methi(fenugreek) /tej patta etc etc give unique flavors to Indian food. None of the above spices(except clove which has little amount of capsaicin) is ‘hot’. These spices give unique flavors depending on the base oil they are heated to (mustard /sunflower etc). Those oils themselves give unique flavors, but more importantly based on their properties eject different amount of aromas from different spices depending on temperature. Also, other important components like mustard / dahi(yoghyrt), curry leaves/ basil leaves etc also play important role based on the timing and proportion of adding those components.

与豆蔻（本身有各种类型）/薄荷/肉桂/藏红花/丁香/其他许多稀有香料如黑孜然/纳格克萨尔/芫荽籽（葫芦巴）/肉豆蔻叶等等一起，给印度食物带来独特的风味。以上香料中没有一种（除了丁香，它含有少量辣椒素）是“辣”的。这些香料根据它们被加热到的基础油（芥末/葵花等）给食物带来独特的风味。这些油本身也给食物带来独特的风味，但更重要的是，根据它们的性质，在不同的温度下，从不同的香料中释放出不同数量的香气。此外，其他重要的组成部分，如芥末/酸奶、咖喱叶/罗勒叶等，根据添加这些组成部分的时间和比例发挥着重要作用。

It is so sad when Westerners confuse complexities and nuances of Indian spices with ‘hotness’. Absolutely misleading and even insulting to Indian cooks.

当西方人将印度香料的复杂性和微妙之处误解为“辣味”时，这是多么令人遗憾。这绝对是误导的，甚至对印度厨师是一种侮辱。

Benjamin Allen Whetham
They tolerate spicy foods the same way deaf people tolerate loud sounds. They’ve burned out their tasebuds due to years of being exposed to capsaicin. Same reason people go deaf from going to too many rock concerts.

他们容忍辛辣食物的方式就像聋子容忍大声的声音一样。他们的味蕾由于多年暴露于辣椒素而烧坏了。同样的原因，人们因为参加了太多摇滚音乐会而导致耳聋。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Chr Ott
I don't know if this answer passes the logic test. If the claims were true, there would be no spicy cuisines in the colder parts of Europe - yet some cuisines are mild and some are very spicy (like Hungarian cuisine). I know it probably developed in Asia, but it was in the cold steppe environment of Asia rather than in tropical or subtropical Asia where Hungarian cuisine was born.

我不知道这个答案是否经得起逻辑检验。如果这些说法属实，那么欧洲寒冷地区就不会有辛辣的美食了 - 然而一些美食是温和的，一些则非常辛辣（比如匈牙利美食）。我知道它可能起源于亚洲，但是匈牙利美食诞生在亚洲寒冷的草原环境中，而不是热带或亚热带地区。

Péter Tajthy
Hungarian cuisine (as we know it now) was born in the Carpathian basin, after having been contacted with Turkish cuisine.
Red pepper (paprika) was called “Turkish pepper” in the 16th century.
Now, it is part of almost any Hungarian dish (I am exaggerating, somewhat. We do not put paprika into pasta with poppy seeds. Other than that, virtually to anything (of course, I am exaggerating again)).

匈牙利美食（就我们现在所知）诞生于喀尔巴阡盆地，与土耳其美食接触后才产生。16世纪红辣椒（辣椒）被称为“土耳其辣椒”。现在，几乎每道匈牙利菜肴都有辣椒的成分（我有些夸张。我们不会在夹有罂粟籽的面食中放辣椒。除此之外，几乎每一种菜肴都有（当然，我有些夸张））。

Stefan Hill
In Europe food is traditionally preserved by drying, salting and fermenting it.

在欧洲，食物传统上是通过晾干、腌制和发酵来保存的。

Richard Barker
I thought very hot chilli / spices can burn your skin but maybe that’s caused by something other than the capsaicin? Even if your mouth isn’t actually burning, you can have some very unpleasant and real effects such as red face, streaming eyes and problems on the toilet!

我认为非常辣的辣椒/香料可能会灼伤你的皮肤，但也许这是由于除了辣椒素之外的其他原因？即使你的嘴并没有真正感到灼热，你也可能会出现一些非常不愉快和真实的影响，比如面部潮红、流眼泪和上厕所时的问题！
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

J Altfas
Capsaicin applied to skin produces a burning sensation via activation of pain receptors, so the mechanism is similar to “spicy” mouth sensation. The effects on the skin are exploited to reduce pain, presumably through exhausting pain receptor response hence a relative analgesia is experienced.

将辣椒素涂抹在皮肤上会通过激活痛觉受体产生灼烧感，因此其机制类似于“辛辣”的口感。对皮肤的影响被利用来减轻疼痛，可能是通过耗尽痛觉受体的反应，因此会感受到相对的止痛作用。

Ansie21
As far as I have observed, the closer a country is located to the equator, the spicer their cuisine. This makes sense because if the weather stays hot year round, hot chillies can be used as preservatives for extending the shelf life of cooked foods.

据我观察，一个国家距离赤道越近，他们的菜肴就越辣。这是有道理的，因为如果天气全年保持炎热，辣椒可以用作延长熟食保质期的防腐剂。

来源：龙腾网看世界