Ring of fire – Johnny Cash
With this song, I want to give you a playful and cheeky attempt to make you laugh through the pain.
I dedicated this post to something I know all too well.
I’m talking about the second burn of adding (too much) hot peppers to your food. The reason why spicy food burns twice.
So yes, this one is for all you hot pepper lovers out there.
And also for all of you who are curious about trying hot peppers in your food for the first time.
Curious… but still innocent. I’m talking about the real ring of fire.
I don’t know if Johnny Cash really had this in mind when he wrote this song, but I find the title painfully fitting. And honestly, everyone who has ever eaten hot peppers knows exactly what I mean.
A hot pepper is like a boomerang. You throw it with confidence. You enjoy the moment. And then it comes back to bite you in your butt, quite literally.
It can be quite a surprise for people who have never eaten hot peppers before, especially when nobody warned them about this part. Most people think the pain of the first burn is the only thing they have to go through. Well, it isn’t.
Every hot pepper lover has at least one story about the moment they lost their fiery virginity. Funny in hindsight. Questionable at the time.
So let me quickly share mine, and then we’ll move on to the slightly nerdy bit where we figure out why the ring of fire exists in the first place.
My first ring of fire
Luckily, my first experience wasn’t as extreme as some of the stories I’ve heard from others. I was actually pretty well informed about the second burning sensation these colorful spice bombs can give you. So yes, I was prepared. Or at least, I thought I was. Knowing it didn’t make it less intense though.
One of my good Curaçaoan friends, Nelson, loved Madame Jeanette peppers and convinced me to try them. He made pika, finely chopped Madame Jeanette peppers with onion, garlic, cane sugar, vinegar, and oil. (And yes, to all my Curaçaoan and Caribbean friends: I know there are many versions. Just like every Nonna has her own tomato sauce recipe. This was simply how he made it.)
He persuaded me to add it to a pan lomito, bread with pan-fried beef. Me, being a little cocky, added quite a bit of pika to the sandwich and ate it full force.
My face turned red like a tomato, but secretly… I loved the first burn. Nelson was impressed. He nodded. He smiled. And then I noticed the chuckle, right when he casually mentioned the day after.
Fast forward about eighteen hours later. I found myself slightly in a pickle and a bit nervous.
Because I knew. And then it arrived.
I’ll spare you the details, but that was the moment I personally found out that all those stories about the second burn were very, very real. Holy moly. That was a ring of fire!
Alright, let’s gently put my painful experience behind us and talk about why hot peppers actually burn twice. Come on, take my hand. Let’s jump into the fire together.
Why Spicy Food Burns Twice
We start at the beginning. One of the substances in hot peppers is capsaicin, this is a compound that tricks your pain receptors. It binds to receptors meant to detect actual heat or physical danger. Your brain genuinely believes you’re touching something hot, even though nothing is actually burning.
The result? Sweating. Tears. Panic. Regret. Sometimes all at once.
Capsaicin is that guest who’s loud when they arrive and somehow still in your house long after everyone else has left. Your body can’t digest capsaicin the way it does sugars or proteins. It passes through your digestive system largely unchanged. Meaning: whatever went in… is still very much there later.
Capsaicin also builds up with repeated exposure. Eating spicy food regularly can dull the first burn.
It does absolutely nothing for the second.
Eating a hot pepper is like shouting into a canyon. You hear it once when you speak. And then again! Awhile later, when you forgot you ever opened your mouth. Your mouth may learn. Your gut never forgets.
The part nobody can help you with
Your mouth is only the first victim. When you eat chili, capsaicin coats your mouth, tongue, lips, throat, everything. It’s fat-soluble, not water-soluble. Water just spreads it around instead of washing it away. This is burn number one: immediate, dramatic, and very public.
Your digestive tract, however, is also full of pain receptors. As capsaicin travels downward, it politely ignores your plans and reactivates them. Your body reacts again as if something is seriously wrong. This is burn number two: delayed, private, and quite humbling.
The second burn feels worse because you didn’t consent again. The first burn was expected; you chose the chili. The second one just… shows up. No flavor. No joy. No bragging rights. Just consequences. Now you know why spicy food burns twice.
This isn’t a flaw, it’s the deal. Hot peppers evolved to cause pain as a defense mechanism. Mammals feel it. Birds don’t. And well… humans eat them anyway. Twice!
Can we fix this?
Are there any fixes to put the fire out you might think?
Well, yes and no! you can drink some milk, especially with a high fat percentage. Milk helps the first burn, but not the second.
Dairy contains casein, a protein which binds to capsaicin and helps remove it from your mouth. That said, although the digestion happens, it’s too late for fixes. There is no dairy product strong enough for regrets. Again, canyon. Echo. Consequences.
Why we keep coming back
Flavor, heat, endorphins. Then the consequences. Hot peppers are honest like that.
To make it a bit more poetic for you, eating hot peppers is like a brief and intense love affair.
The first burn is pure passion. The second burn is reality knocking on your backdoor the next day (yes pun intended).
Hot peppers don’t betray you besides tricking your pain receptors. But they simply remind you of what you chose.
Let’s be honest
Now you know why the ring of fire is a real thing when you eat hot peppers. I shared my first fiery experience and now I want to hear from you. What is your most funny, painful or memorable experience from the second burn?
You can share your own or from “a friend” if you are a bit embarrassed to put your own name to it. Share it all in the comments, you can leave some really private details out of course.
Keep eating those hot peppers with no regrets but remember the consequences,
Yohan
Ps, for the hardcore hot pepper lovers, I have a little cheeky boxershort you can wear when you eat hot peppers. Check it out right here! You might get a chuckle out of it!