Post by ShadowSerpent
No it triggers the spice/bitter receptor
Actually, Boottspurr was kind of right. The "taste" of hot is actually just pain in your tongue. It's a kind of poison used by some plants (like pepper) to prevent animals from eating them.
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Substances such as ethanol and capsaicin cause a burning sensation by inducing a trigeminal nerve reaction together with normal taste reception. The sensation of heat is caused by the food activating nerve cells containing TRPV1 receptors, which is also activated by hot temperatures. The piquant sensation, usually referred to as being "hot" or "spicy", is a notable feature of Mexican, Hungarian, Indian, Szechuan, Korean, Indonesian, central Vietnamese, and Thai cuisines.
The two main plants providing this sensation are chili peppers (those fruits of the Capsicum plant that contain capsaicin) and black pepper.
If tissue in the oral cavity has been damaged or sensitised, ethanol may be experienced as pain rather than simply heat. Those who have had radiotherapy for oral cancer thus find it painful to drink alcohol.
This particular sensation is not considered a taste in the technical sense, because it is carried to the brain by a different set of nerves. Although taste nerves are also activated when consuming foods like chili peppers, the sensation commonly interpreted as "hot" results from the stimulation of somatosensory (pain/temperature) fibers on the tongue. Many parts of the body with exposed membranes but without taste sensors (such as the nasal cavity, under the fingernails, or a wound) produce a similar sensation of heat when exposed to hotness agents.
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That being said, I love hot food. The hotter, the better. Up to somewhere in between getting tears in my eyes and running for the nearest supply of milk with my mouth wide open, screaming.
Other then that, I don't really enjoy inflicting pain upon myself.