International Hot and Spicy Food Day is on Jan. 16, celebrating the bold flavors and fiery dishes that will set your tastebuds aflame. Whether you like a mild heat or seek out the spiciest chiles, here are the best ways to turn up the flavor.
Spice and heat are an integral part of cuisines around the world. International Hot and Spicy Food Day celebrates both these traditional cuisines and those who love all things spicy. This holiday is perfect for discovering the science behind heat, exploring cultural cuisines from around the world and testing your tastebuds with the spiciest ingredients.
The science of spice
The heat you experience in a spicy dish comes from capsaicin, a compound found in chili peppers. The capsaicin binds to the receptors on your tongue and sends signals to the brain. Your brain interprets these signals as heat, although your tongue is not actually burning.
Different types of peppers have different concentrations of capsaicin, giving them different levels of spiciness. The Scoville scale measures this spiciness, or pungency, in Scoville Heat Units or SHU. Sweet peppers like bell peppers have no pungency at 0 SHU while the Carolina Reaper has a Scoville rating of up to 2.2 million SHU for a painfully spicy experience.
Other peppers fall in between this range. Jalapeno peppers are about 2,500 to 10,000 SHU. Serrano peppers are between 10,000 and 25,000 SHU. Habanero chiles and Scotch bonnet peppers are over 100,000 SHU. The ghost pepper is about 1 million SHU.
These peppers don’t just pack heat, however. Many cultivators develop unique flavor profiles in their chiles as well. For instance, jalapenos have a vegetal flavor while a Scotch bonnet brings fruitiness. Taking into account both the spiciness and flavor of a pepper can help you craft the perfect dish.
Global flavors that bring the heat
Although peppers are native to what is now South America and Mexico, early explorers and traders quickly carried peppers around the world. Cultures everywhere incorporated chiles into their cuisine, bringing a spicy twist to local flavors.
Peppers feature in the dishes of many Asian cultures. Chiles grow well in Central Asia in a climate similar to that of their native South America. Additionally, chiles pair nicely with other spices commonly used in local cuisines.
In India, for instance, spicy curries combine fresh chiles, chili powder and spices for a warming dish. For a dish that is hot as well as spicy, try vindaloo from the Goa region. In Thailand, bird’s eye chilis and other Thai chiles give a kick to curries, papaya salad and soups. Chile pastes and sauces like sambal oelek, sriracha and gochujang deliver extra spice as condiments and ingredients.
North African countries often incorporate harissa, a hot, red chili paste, into dishes. Algerian sauce mixes harissa with a mayonnaise base and other spices for a delicious dip or spread.
Mexico, where peppers are native, incorporates peppers into several dishes. Smokey heat from chipotles, salsas with jalapenos and other chilis pair with cumin, oregano and cilantro for heat and flavor.
Cooking with spice
With so many pepper types and heat levels, cooking with chilis offers plenty of room for exploration. Be sure to start small as you are exploring. You can always add more heat, but it’s difficult to rescue dishes with too much spice.
Explore pepper varieties
Chili varieties around the world mean there’s a pepper for almost every dish. International Hot and Spicy Food Day is a great time to explore different peppers or experiment with more intense peppers in your usual recipes.
You can also try store-bought or homemade dried pepper spice mixes. These make it possible to still get the flavor of spicier peppers without the heat or bring together the tastes of several peppers for a more unique dish.
Balance flavor and heat
Whether you like a mild heat or fiery punch, the best pepper dishes bring out the flavors of the peppers, spices and other ingredients. In addition to choosing the right pepper for your dish, adding ingredients that will cut the heat will help bring forward a more layered flavor profile. Creamy ingredients like coconut milk, yogurt or avocado have a cooling effect. Sweet items like sugar or honey can also help cut heat.
Since peppers of the same variety can range in heat level, it’s always worth doing a quick taste of your batch of peppers before incorporating them into a recipe. You may need to add more or leave a few out based on how spicy the chiles are to get your desired heat level.
Top it with hot sauce
Hot sauces are a great way to experiment with spice. They bring a wide variety of flavors and, if you’re cooking for multiple people, make it possible for everyone at the table to customize the spiciness of a dish to their preferred tolerance.
Most cuisines have hot sauces that complement their flavors well, such as garlicky sriracha from Thailand or Caribbean Scotch bonnet sauce with allspice. A growing market of artisan hot sauces can also bring more unique flavors or extreme heat levels to your dishes.
You can make your own hot sauce as well. There are hundreds of hot sauce recipes, letting you customize your sauce to your preferred heat level and cooking style.
Celebrating the spiciest day
With International Hot and Spicy Food Day on Jan. 16, you have the perfect excuse to line up your favorite peppery recipes or buy that bottle of hot sauce you’ve been eyeing. You can gather friends to explore new cuisines that utilize peppers or have a hot sauce-tasting party.
For true heat lovers, a pepper challenge might be your celebration of choice. Eat increasingly hot peppers or hot sauces and see how long you can hold out before the heat gets too much.
To complete your spicy meal, finish off with a pepper-infused drink. Hot chocolate with a pinch of cayenne or a jalapeno margarita are both fun ways to bring a bit more spice to your day.
Spice things up this International Hot and Spicy Food Day
International Hot and Spicy Food Day is the ultimate celebration for those who like bold and fiery flavors. Indulge your love of heat with your favorite recipes and explore new spice profiles in cuisines from around the world. However you celebrate, be sure to enjoy every sizzling bite.
Kristen Wood is a photographer, food writer, recipe developer and creator of MOON and spoon and yum. She is also the author of “Vegetarian Family Cookbook,” “Fermented Hot Sauce Cookbook” and “Hot Sauce Cookbook for Beginners.” Her work has been featured in various online and print publications, including NBC, Seattle Times, Elle, Martha Stewart, Forbes, Chicago Sun-Times and more.