[CH] {CH} Chile Head forum
DWALLS9102@aol.com
Fri, 17 Aug 2001 10:47:01 EDT
Cameron, please explain to me how the ethanol is able to carry away the capsaicin with it as it evaporates.
The only way that could possibly happen is if the capsaicin's boiling point is either below or very close to the boiling point of the ethanol. So, what then, is the boiling point of capsaicin?
If I got some salt water and boiled it, would the water vapor take the salt away with it too? No, it wouldn't. The salt would stay behind. Eventually you would have nothing left but salt, unless salt (sodium chloride(NaCl)) boiled at or below 100 deg. C.
I did not say Chile Head forum, I said chile pepper forum. There's a difference.
> RE: Extracting from habaneros with ethanol:
> >Double boil it .......................
> >There is some good heat in there, but not overpowering.
>
> The reason for the lack of pungency is that you boiled it at approximatly 80°C. (The boiling point of pure ethanol is ~78°C). In doing so you lost a lot of the volatile capsaicins. You need to use either a vacuum evaporator or let the ethanol evaporate slowly at room temp. by leaving it under a shelf (to keep dust out while still allowing air circulation) for several days or weeks.
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> Regards, Cameron.