The Best Way To Cool The Burn Of Spicy Food, According To Competitive Chile Pepper Eaters

Does water really make it worse? And what about peanut butter? Find out the truth straight from people who know best.

It happens to the best of us: You take a bite of something spicy, thinking you can handle the heat, but you instantly regret it. Maybe it’s an Indian dish you confidently requested “hot” when ordering. Maybe it’s salsa made with hot sauce that’s spicier than your typical Tabasco. Whatever it is, you need relief — ASAP.

The instinct is, of course, to gulp down a big glass of water. But in the back of your mind is the idea that water makes heat worsen. Perhaps you’ve heard that downing a glass of milk helps.

To separate facts from folklore, we asked a group of people who probably know better than anyone how to cool the mouth down after eating something spicy: competitive chile pepper eaters, who are also known to drink hot sauce when a competition calls for it. So what actually works? Keep reading to find out.

What Absolutely Not To Do When Your Mouth Is On Fire

Kurt Miller, who goes by the moniker Johnny Scoville, is a self-proclaimed chile head with the resume to prove it. He jumped out of an aircraft while eating 10 Carolina reapers, appeared in the Netflix series “We Are the Champions” and was featured on a show called “Superhot: The Spicy World of Pepper People.” If there’s anyone familiar with a burning mouth, it’s him. There are three liquids that Miller — and other competitive chile eaters — warn against using in an effort to cool down your mouth.