The Best Way To Cool The Burn Of Spicy Food, According To Competitive Chile Pepper Eaters

It happens to the best of us: You take a bite of something spicy, thinking you can handle the heat, but you instantly regret it. Maybe it’s an Indian dish you confidently requested “hot” when ordering. Maybe it’s salsa made with hot sauce that’s spicier than your typical Tabasco. Whatever it is, you need relief — ASAP.
The instinct is, of course, to gulp down a big glass of water. But in the back of your mind is the idea that water makes heat worsen. Perhaps you’ve heard that downing a glass of milk helps.
To separate facts from folklore, we asked a group of people who probably know better than anyone how to cool the mouth down after eating something spicy: competitive chile pepper eaters, who are also known to drink hot sauce when a competition calls for it. So what actually works? Keep reading to find out.
Kurt Miller, who goes by the moniker Johnny Scoville, is a self-proclaimed chile head with the resume to prove it. He jumped out of an aircraft while eating 10 Carolina reapers, appeared in the Netflix series “We Are the Champions” and was featured on a show called “Superhot: The Spicy World of Pepper People.” If there’s anyone familiar with a burning mouth, it’s him. There are three liquids that Miller — and other competitive chile eaters — warn against using in an effort to cool down your mouth.
Miller corroborated the belief that drinking water doesn’t help ease the burn after eating something spicy; it only makes things worse. “What happens with water is that it moves the capsaicin [or other component of spicy food] around in your mouth,” he told HuffPost. ”You may have relief for a second while the water is on your tongue. But the second you swallow the water, that relief is over.”
Mike Jack, who is the reigning champion of the League of Fire’s world chile-eating competition and is recognized by Guinness World Records for the fastest time to eat 100 Carolina reaper chile peppers, agreed. “It gives you a moment of relief and then [the heat] comes back even worse because it spreads the spice around,” Jack said.
OK, so what about reaching for a beer? Shahina Waseem, aka the “UK Chilli Queen,” told HuffPost that this is another common mistake.
“People think washing down spicy food, such as hot curry, with a cold beer will help,” she said. “But beer is predominantly water. And though it may appear to help ease the pain momentarily, it actually does nothing.”
Jack said he’s learned the hard way that drinking soda only intensifies the burn of a mouth on fire. This is another common mistake, he said, because many people believe the sugar in soda will balance out the spice, but the carbonation ends up intensifying the burn.
According to scientific research, the carbonation in soda activates a protein called TRPA1, which is linked to pain in nerve cells. It’s the same protein activated by spicy foods like wasabi.
So if water, beer and soda are all out as ways to cool off your mouth, what actually works?
Miller, Jack and Waseem all told HuffPost that drinking milk absolutely can cool off a burning mouth. Science backs this up, noting how its fat content can interact with the capsaicin in many spicy foods. “Unfortunately, this is temporary,” Miller said, suggesting that the relief won’t last longer than a few seconds.
Competitive chile pepper eater Kris Fragale, who is known as the “Scoville Unit” and also appeared on “Superhot,” hypothesized that the best way to use milk is to swish it around and then spit it out. He said that in his experience, letting the milk and spice sit together in the stomach can cause some pretty unpleasant digestive problems.
Waseem added that it’s not just milk that can help; other dairy-based foods and drinks also can, including yogurt, ice cream and cheese. In fact, she said she eats pieces of Babybel snack-sized cheese after competitions because she finds them so effective.
Miller said his go-to for cooling down his mouth ASAP is peanut butter, adding that it’s a mainstay at chile pepper-eating competitions. “My theory is that peanut butter coats the taste receptors on the tongue because it’s so thick,” he said.
“Peanut butter helps ease the pain the same way as cheese,” Waseem said, pointing to how its fat interacts with capsaicin.
While it may seem like something acidic would make a burning mouth feel even more pain, Miller and Waseem both said it can work.
“Many people swear by pineapple juice and pickle juice to help with the burn,” Waseem said, suggesting that the acidity counteracts the capsaicin.
All four chile heads who spoke to HuffPost said that sugary foods are a great way to cool down the mouth. Waseem said that after a competition, she’ll drink chocolate milk or a Frappuccino as a way to recover. Miller said he’s seen people eat a spoonful of sugar for the same reason. Similarly, scientific research has shown that drinking Kool-Aid can help reduce the burn.
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If all else fails, Fragale and Jack recommended just waiting it out. “[The burning feeling] is also mental,” Fragale said, suggesting that it’s best to avoid panicking and to remember that the feeling will pass.
“What’s more important than cooling your mouth down is to think of how to help your stomach out, which is usually by eating something hearty,” Jack said.
Everyone responds to spice differently, and it may take some trial and error before you find the best solution to ease a burning sensation. But no matter how bad the burn is, you will feel better eventually. No fire — even a figurative one — burns forever.