Abstract
Capsaicinoids are a family compounds in peppers that explicitly trigger the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) ion channel. TRPV1 of the body signals the brain that a food is spicy. It has been reported that capsaicinoid concentration can vary widely in peppers. In this study, the capsaicinoid concentration as a function of pepper color, pepper type, and the amount of nitrogen content in soil was determined from peppers bought or grown in Tennessee. Capsaicinoid concentration was determined in three different pepper types, including Jalapeño, Serrano, and Cayenne. A solid-liquid extraction was used to isolate the capsaicinoids, followed by UV-VIS spectroscopy to determine the amount of capsaicinoids in each pepper. The concentration of capsaicinoids in Jalapeño and Serrano peppers were not significantly different according to a pairwise t-test. However, Cayenne peppers have a lower concentration of capsaicinoids than Jalapeño or Serrano pepper. Our data indicated that the color of the pepper did not affect capsaicinoid concentration. Other factors, such as nitrogen content in fertilizer, can affect capsaicinoid concentration. Therefore, Cayenne peppers were planted by using store-bought seeds. After the seeds germinated, the plants were given different fertilizers. Miracle Gro fertilizer with 12% and 18% levels of nitrogen were used to treat the plants while the control did not receive fertilizer. According to the ANOVA followed by a Tukey comparison test, the results indicate that the capsaicinoid produced from plants treated with no fertilizer and plants treated with 12% nitrogen fertilizer were significantly different.