[thrwwycbr]

The article doesn't contain the actual reason.

I'd argue that the real reason is that peppers are now mass produced in clean, bug-free, environments.

Which means: No bug bites, no spice.

If you grow peppers indoors where no bugs are, they tend to be a very mild produce. If you put them outside (and have enough insects around), they get much more spicy.

Of course the usage of pesticides contributes to that effect, due to bugs not having a chance to bite the fruits anymore.

[episteme]

Why do bug bites increase spice?

[thrwwycbr]

They release enzymes necessary for the spice/acid production. The acid counteracts those enzymes.

If you cut open peppers, you can see the black veins which were bit by bugs, those are the ones containing the carbon acid.

A better way to protect them against virusses but not against bugs that won't harm them is by combining the top of peppers with the root of potatoes, and by using moss to heal the cuts where you combined them (e.g. with a toothpick)

Of course that won't work on an industrial scale, hence them favoring pesticides.

[progmetaldev]

I've read that slightly dehydrating your plants as they fruit is developing helps increase the capsaicin. You can also blend up the peppers and spray them down, which seems to agitate the peppers, and possibly send a chemical signal for the plant to start produce more capsaicin (although that's all been anecdotal evidence to my knowledge).

[akavi]

"The acid"? Capsaicin (the compound responsible for a pepper's "heat") is not an acid.

Also, I've never noticed "black veins" in any peppers I've prepared, including very spicy ones.

[thrwwycbr]

Well, technically, capsaicin is the end of the reaction.

Some might argue that all carbon acid amids are - as the name says - products of carbon acid reactions with ammonia.

At least in a natural, non synthesized, environment.

[ricardobeat]

The bites themselves don’t cause the plant to produce more capsaicin. It’s natural selection - plants in areas with lots of insects end up producing more capsaicin as a means of protecting themselves. They are hotter, and insects will not bite them as a result.

Happy to be proven wrong if you have sources saying otherwise, but I’m quite certain this is the science behind it.

[thaumasiotes]

This is basically the same as arguing that exposure to sunlight won't darken your skin, but it will mean that natural selection gives your descendants darker skin.

There is every reason to expect that a plant's defenses against predation will be more active the more predation it experiences.

[ricardobeat]

Melanin is produced as a reaction to UV exposure. Capsaicin is not produced as a reaction to bug bites. This is basic Darwinism vs Lamarckism, evolutionary pressure vs the idea of inheriting acquired traits.

[thaumasiotes]

You just stated that you didn't know whether or not this was the case. Has that changed?

> This is basic Darwinism vs Lamarckism, evolutionary pressure vs the idea of inheriting acquired traits.

Considering we're only talking about one plant, and not an ancestral line of plants over time, you appear to be pretty badly confused.

[quickslowdown]

The spice is an evolved defense mechanism, so if it's not needed, the peppers eventually stop producing it. Couple that with us intentionally selecting for things other than spice, and within a few generations you have a less spicy pepper.

Note I'm not any kind of qualified to talk on this topic. I'm sure someone can give a better & more accurate answer!

[yellowapple]

It's indeed a defense mechanism, but (from what I understand) it has less to do with bugs and more to do with mammals; pepper plants started surrounding the seeds with capsaicin to ward off mammals (which chew up and destroy the seeds) while still being palatable to birds (which ingest the seeds whole and "drop them off" elsewhere).

Then a certain species of primate decided "Grug inflict pain on self, makes Grug happy" and the rest is history.

[quickslowdown]

That sounds like exactly the correction I was hoping for :) and it does make more sense than bugs, especially your bit about birds.

[temp0826]

No problem for birds either who don't have the taste buds for capsaicin. I had to buy spicy bird food for a while to ward off the squirrels. A little cruel maybe.

[voidwtf]

The summarized version was that they've selected for milder more consistently flavored jalapeños for mass manufacturing purposes where the companies using the peppers in their products prefer to control the level of spice with capsaicin extract.