[Borek]

But it's NOT a solvent for it. That's been said numerous times

ONE person above said that they 'heard' it wasn't a solvent for it.

It wasn't "one person", it was movies And while he can be wrong as anyobody else, he is our organic guru

[Will]

But it's NOT a solvent for it. That's been said numerous times

ONE person above said that they 'heard' it wasn't a solvent for it.

It wasn't "one person", it was movies And while he can be wrong as anyobody else, he is our organic guru

lol I was going to say the same thing! On the one hand, movies is right in saying that beer etc. wouldn't be a good 'antidote' because only a small percentage of most alcoholic drinks are C₂H₅OH. But I just did some searching on capsaicin and found that pure ethanol isn't that bad a solvent, these dudes even extracted capsaicin with it: http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/specialty_crops/publications/reports/2004/ratnasharms_Capsaicin.htm.
I think 'P' probably got a bit annoyed with deadally's slightly aggreviating language!

[movies]

But it's NOT a solvent for it. That's been said numerous times

ONE person above said that they 'heard' it wasn't a solvent for it.

It wasn't "one person", it was movies And while he can be wrong as anyobody else, he is our organic guru

I appreciate your faith in my comments above, but it does seem that I was a little off the mark on this one.  According to the MSDS, it's soluble in alcohol, but not in water (0.1 mg/mL; for comparison, sugar is soluble to the tune of about 2 g/mL of water).  I had heard that it wasn't soluble in alcohol on a cooking show (one of my other hobbies!)  As I said above, I do think that the alcohol content in things like beer and wine will be way too low to overcome the insolubility in water.  In my experience, beer (about 4-7% alcohol in water) is definitely insufficient!  I have to admit, I haven't done the experiment with hard liquor though.  You'd have to get to some pretty serious stuff though, I bet.  Even scotch or vodka is only 40-50% alcohol, and that's also determined by volume, so it's really less that a 1:1 ratio of alcohol to water molecules since the density of ethanol is 3/4 that of water.  So I guess if you want to take a shot of 151 or everclear every time you take a bite of something hot, that might work.  I'd be impressed if you could finish your meal without passing out, or worse, having your spicy food come back in the reverse direction....

Sorry to cause such a stir in this thread, it was certainly unintended.

[billnotgatez]

My understanding is that EverClear would be an irritant if taken without dilution.

We use the word alcohol to mean alcoholic beverage, which can confuse the semantic purist.


Are not crackers the antidote?

[limpet chicken]

I'm not utterly convinced having it back up out of the wrong end, would be THAT much worse than a mixture of 95% EtOH+capsaicin coming out of the RIGHT end, at least, not for anyone within the nearest 15 meters or so

[movies]

I'm not utterly convinced having it back up out of the wrong end, would be THAT much worse than a mixture of 95% EtOH+capsaicin coming out of the RIGHT end, at least, not for anyone within the nearest 15 meters or so

LOL!  Well said.

[P]

But it's NOT a solvent for it. That's been said numerous times

ONE person above said that they 'heard' it wasn't a solvent for it.

It wasn't "one person", it was movies And while he can be wrong as anyobody else, he is our organic guru

I appreciate your faith in my comments above, but it does seem that I was a little off the mark on this one. According to the MSDS, it's soluble in alcohol, but not in water (0.1 mg/mL; for comparison, sugar is soluble to the tune of about 2 g/mL of water). I had heard that it wasn't soluble in alcohol on a cooking show (one of my other hobbies!) As I said above, I do think that the alcohol content in things like beer and wine will be way too low to overcome the insolubility in water. In my experience, beer (about 4-7% alcohol in water) is definitely insufficient! I have to admit, I haven't done the experiment with hard liquor though. You'd have to get to some pretty serious stuff though, I bet. Even scotch or vodka is only 40-50% alcohol, and that's also determined by volume, so it's really less that a 1:1 ratio of alcohol to water molecules since the density of ethanol is 3/4 that of water. So I guess if you want to take a shot of 151 or everclear every time you take a bite of something hot, that might work. I'd be impressed if you could finish your meal without passing out, or worse, having your spicy food come back in the reverse direction....

Sorry to cause such a stir in this thread, it was certainly unintended.

LoL!  Sorry - I didn't mean to sound aggrivated at all I was just questioning the statement -  as it goes movies explains it exactly as I saw it here (with the insolubility in the water of the beverage out weighing the solubility of the small % alcohol).   My comment about the vodka wasn't all that serious really - I just didn't agree with the statement that the solubility had been 'discussed to death on numerous occasions' because it had only been mentioned once.

 

[armo]

HI hot people!Here in Brasil when we get really hot food (most in Bahia, the carnival state!) we use to drink a small spoon of olive oil. It works very well against capsaician. It has another benefit:somehow your hangover will be very light next morning!!
Alfredo.

[HP]

Menthol have similar effect as capsacin so i think it can be used as "antidot" on competition priciple