Rachel S. Gross

speaker

255 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Aug 2026 last heard 18 Aug

Rachel S. Gross’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.

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Gastropod · So Hot Right Now: Why We Love the Chile Pepper · 18 Aug 2026 podcast

It's quite sharp.

I swallowed that really quickly.

I couldn't s let it spend too much time in my mouth.

capsaicin molecule is triggering a receptor in our mouths, or maybe in myesophagus, that has a lot of other work to do.

It's the same receptor that would be kicked into high gear if you put some boiling hot water or tea in your mouth.

It's part of something called the somatosensory system.

Pam told us that we can in fact feel capsaicin anywhere on our body as long as our skin isn't too tough.

No kidding.

Another thing I noticed personally after I ate that tapene, it felt like the very follicles on my head were starting to sweat.

I was literally hot, which is a weird reaction because the temperature in the room hadn't changed at all.

This whole process is weird, yes, but it's also kind of useful in parts of the world where you might want to sweat even while you're sitting around eating.

After that teppine, the powdered pure capsaicin sounds a little terrifying to me.

We wondered if Pam ever tried it neat.

Actually, people in South and Central America used chilies in war.

They'd make grenades with ground chilies in them and launch them at attackers and leave their enemies basically choking and blind.

Another tactic was to put the chilies in what were kind of like water balloons, so they'd ferment and then burst on impact, releasing all their noxious, painful gases.

Cynthia was taking notes, clearing

I don't know how to defend myself here, I promise.

I don't have a vendetta against Nikki I've been keeping secret all these years.

But of course, as we've already said, the chili peppers burn is something that a lot of us find pleasant and exciting in somewhat smaller doses.

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