Have you ever heard of eating a hot pepper or a spicy dish as a way of cooling down in the summer? I never had, until I came across this article in The Seattle Times where they're comparing the cooling properties of ice cream vs. beer vs. spicy food to see which works better in the heat of the summer.

Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like they find a very clear answer as all the choices have a strong list of pros and cons. Ice cream may make you feel cooler at first but it will warm you up later as your digestive processes get going. Beer will dehydrate you, which will inhibit sweating, and spicy foods will actually make you feel warmer at first followed by cooling due to the sweat (if there's a breeze). So I guess it's a 'pick your poison' kind of thing. Or better yet, stay in the shade and hire somebody to fan you.

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We have a jar of Dave's Insanity Sauce in our fridge, and though the label warns that one drop is usually enough, my heat-loving husband liberally shakes the jar over his pot of homemade salsa. He likes his chili so hot that often he has to spice his own bowl separately. As much as he loves spicy food, he's never come across a ghost chili, but according to this article, he may soon get his chance.

The ghost chili was recently named the hottest pepper on the planet, with more than 1,000,000 Scoville units. (As a comparison, the Habanero chili has 100,000-350,000.) Until recently, the ghost chili was enjoyed strictly by locals living in northeastern India, and outsiders were warned against trying the pepper for their own safety. But now exporters are gearing up to share the pepper with the rest of the world, in an effort to build up this troubled region of India.

Locals claim that the pepper is a great remedy for stomach ailments and oddly, keeping cool on a summer day. I have no doubt that if it shows up in our grocery store, my husband will want to try it. What about you -- do you think you'll try the ghost chili?

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Apparently it can, in a test tube anyway. Taiwanese researchers have been spending time mixing the compound Capsaicin (commonly found in hot red peppers) with baby fat cells because I guess they just became curious one day what would happen if they did.

There's no information yet if this works the same in the human body, but when the scientists put the two together in a test tube the fat cells died before maturing. The article doesn't say if they know whether the effect is the same on mature cells, or how much of the compound they used -- as far as wondering just how many peppers might we have to eat?

But don't go chugging hot sauce yet -- there's no data as of now to show it will do anything other than give you watery eyes and heartburn.

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