[Sca-cooks] Hot Peppers

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>:
>  > It might be worth pointing out/remembering that Fireballs are almost
>>  certainly made with cassia rather than cinnamon, if any actual,
>>  non-synthetic spice is used, even if they are alleged to be
>>  cinnamon-flavored.
>
>However, both cassia and cinnamon bark essential oils can burn the skin,
>let alone mucus membranes.

So can, I suspect, oleoresin of paprika (now there's an oddity: I
assume it's a capsicum derivative, but it tastes to me like anise,
and is used as an artificial "chili" flavoring in things like
low-quality pepperoni). However, the inherent heat of essential oils
doesn't necessarily reflect the inherent heat of their source used as
a spice. IOW, the fact that essential oil of cinnamon can burn skin
(and I think we need to define "burn", too; some authorities claim
that what chilis do to skin is not, strictly speaking, caustic, let
alone incendiary) doesn't mean it qualifies as a "hot" spice. How
much would you have to use before it produced the effect of the
essential oil in quantity? (Rhetorical question...)

Adamantius