The Secret To Increasing Your Spice Tolerance

Who among us doesn't want to walk on the wild side every now and then? Sure, there are some people for whom mayonnaise is too bold and piquant, but for the rest of us, feeling the divine tingle of spice upon the palate is one of life's little joys. But what do you do if you're just not built for it? What if, when faced with every hot sauce featured on "Hot Ones," you would tap out around El Yucateco? Fear not, our spice-deficient friend: there is still hope for you. You can train your tongue to get used to spicy flavors by gradually increasing the heat in the food you eat.

Luckily for you, there's a handy chart, the Scoville Heat Scale, sorting different peppers by spice. (Yes, it's basically power scaling for peppers.) If you want to get into spicy food, you can start near the bottom of the scale with milder peppers like Anaheims or poblanos before working your way up to jalapeños and serranos. And mind you, this doesn't mean you have to pop a straight-up pepper in your mouth like a hard-boiled egg; you can try it in dishes that may mitigate the heat, like jalapeño poppers. (Just so long as you don't get them from Arby's; we'll never order them from there again.)

So now that you know not to chow down on a Carolina reaper right off the jump — not that we needed to tell you that (we hope not, anyway) — what are some other ways to savor spice without sending you running to dip your tongue in a jug of milk? Well, honestly, that jug of milk might not be such a bad idea. Keeping a heat-tamer on hand is a good way to make spice more manageable, whether you're chasing hot wings with a bowl of ice cream or using yogurt in your curry to soothe the burn. (Milk fats and proteins like casein bind with capsaicin, the chemical compound that causes the burn we associate with spicy food, making dairy a better choice than water.)

It's also a good idea to savor the non-spicy aspects of spicy food. When you go to an amusement park, after all, you enjoy more than just the fastest, most stomach-churning rollercoasters. There's the teacup ride, the flying swings, the overpriced but nonetheless delicious smoked turkey leg you ate while "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind played in the background. Similarly, you would do well to note the sweet, fruity flavor of a habanero pepper behind the burn or the bursts of ginger or garlic you might get from a really flavorful hot sauce. It only makes the heat more rewarding.