[HoneysuckleTN]

I really have tried hot stuff, but I can’t taste anything; the mucosal lining in my mouth is set on fire, and the burning continues long after the food is gone.

Same here! My husband could douse everything with tabasco, black pepper, pepper sauce, anything hot he could find. I can't handle even regular old black pepper. No one else in my family is like this, even my kids like hot stuff. I thought I was just weird until I read an article in Discover magazine years ago. It's called being a super taster. Can't recall now if we have more tastebuds or the tastebuds are more sensitive (something along those lines), but it explained everything about why I can't handle hot stuff at all. The only two things I can tolerate a little black pepper on are deviled eggs and sausage gravy--must be something in them that somewhat neutralizes the heat.

[Empireoftheatom48]

The Capsaicin in the pepper plants, is the culprit it affects the brain, latching on to the receptors on the tounge. Milk or sour cream is somewhat of an antidote. It may be the plants way of protecting itself, from what I’ve read.

[JockoManning]

Sounds like Qx.

[Bigg Red]

Remember the Spice Girls? Maybe we could form a group called the Spiceless Girls.