Beer and Hot Food

More on Wings from the Friar

Contrary to popular opinion/practice beer does NOT help with extreme heat from things like Habanero peppers (or Thai Dragon or anything else that high on the Scoville scale). When you need to put out the fire, dairy products are best- hence the popularity of Bleu Cheese dip (the celery is more or less only a means of delivery). Milk and Yogurt are also very good at neutralizing heat. Bread or dry crackers like Saltines are also good in this role. Beer can still be tasty to drink along with such volcanic dishes (see my next column), but it will not really help dampen the fire. So chugging the whole pitcher will not provide any long-term relief. You’ll still be in pain and also be drunk to boot.

The Friar