Re: [CH] hot foods and kids
mstevens@exit109.com
Fri, 29 Sep 2000 18:04:04 GMT
At 09:28 AM 9/29/00 -0700, scott eggimann wrote:
>>My 23 month old grand daughter *loves* chilies. And she does feel the
>>heat. It all started when she was 8 months old. In a restaurant I made a
>>dipping sauce for my fries of 1 packet of ketchup and about 1 tablespoon
>>of tabasco. She stuck her fry my dip and licked it. She made a little
>>gasp of amazement and then had some more! There was a bead of sweat on
>>her forehead and a beatific smile on her face.
>
>My parents never let me eat hot foods until I got older. Something about
>the "heat" ruining my taste buds so that when I got older, nothing would
>taste good unless there was a lot of heat added. I'm using this same
>thinking with my kids, anybody have any thoughts on giving hot food to kids?
>
As far as I know, hot foods stimulate the heat/pain sensors in the mucous
membranes (Just love saying that! Just rolls off the keyboard... "m u c o u s
m e m b r a n e s") and have nothing to do with the taste buds. From what
I've experienced the opposite is true. In the beginning, when we have no
tolerance to capsaicin the flavors of any mildly spicy dish are overwhelmed by
the heat sensation. It isn't until we develop a tolerance for the heat that
the flavors of those curries, jerk and chili can be appreciated. It isn't
until we can handle the burn that we experience the epiphany that different
varieties of chile peppers themselves have widely varying flavors.
=Mark