As someone who loves spicy foods, I have always been fascinated by capsaicin, the natural compound in chili peppers that gives them such intense heat and pungent flavor. In my work as a food scientist, I decided to research methods for extracting and isolating pure capsaicin from peppers.
In this article, I'll share what I learned about the best practices for capsaicin extraction at home. While capsaicin has many uses, it must be handled with proper precautions to avoid skin and eye irritation.
How to Extract Capsaicin from Peppers
The first step in extracting pure capsaicin powder is selecting the right peppers. The spicier the pepper, the more capsaicin it will contain. Some great options include:
Ghost peppers - Rated over 1 million Scoville Heat Units!
Habanero peppers - Pack nearly 350,000 SHU.
Cayenne peppers - Have 30,000 to 50,000 SHU.
Thai chilies - Can reach 50,000 to 100,000 SHU.
Once you have very spicy dried peppers, grind them into a fine powder. This increases the surface area for the solvent to extract the capsaicin oils.
How to Extract Capsaicin from Cayenne Pepper
As a moderately hot pepper, cayenne is a good choice for DIY capsaicin extraction. Here's how I extract it:
Dehydrate cayennes completely and pulverize into powder.
Soak the powder in a solvent like ethanol or vegetable oil.
Shake or stir the mixture daily for 1-2 weeks.
Filter out the solids from the liquid extract.
Gently evaporate the solvent to obtain concentrated capsaicin oleoresin.
Always use caution when handling super-spicy cayenne extract!
How to Extract Capsaicin
There are a variety of methods to extract capsaicin, each with their own pros and cons:
Ethanol extraction involves soaking peppers in a high-proof food-grade ethanol solvent. After filtering and evaporating the ethanol, purified capsaicin oil or crystals can be collected.
Acetone extraction works similarly to ethanol extraction but requires careful handling as acetone is toxic.
For oil extraction, vegetable oils are heated then steeped with peppers to absorb the capsaicin.
Supercritical CO2 extraction uses highly pressurized carbon dioxide to selectively extract the capsaicin. This requires specialty equipment.
A simple tincture method combines peppers and vodka for a week before filtering out the solids, resulting in a fiery chili tincture.
How to Extract Capsaicin from Chili
Here is my easy method for a DIY capsaicin oil extraction at home:
Supplies:
Dried chili peppers
High-proof ethanol
Glass jars, filters, vials
Steps:
Grind peppers into a coarse powder.
Place powder in a glass jar and cover with ethanol.
Shake jar daily for 1 week.
Filter ethanol through coffee filter.
Evaporate ethanol to obtain capsaicin oil.
Store oil in vial in fridge for longevity.
This handcrafted capsaicin oil makes an amazing addition to hot sauces!
How to Extract Pure Capsaicin
To obtain highly pure capsaicin powder crystals, I take an ethanol extraction one step further:
Blend extremely hot peppers into a fine powder.
For every 2 cups powder, add 1 cup 200-proof ethanol.
Soak 2 weeks, gently shaking daily.
Carefully filter out all solids.
Evaporate ethanol from the extract.
Collect crystals from oil in the freezer.
With the proper safety gear, this method produces nearly pure capsaicin - extremely potent!
How to Extract Pure Capsaicin from Peppers
Key tips for getting pure capsaicin from peppers:
Choose the hottest peppers like ghost or habanero.
Fully dehydrate and powderize the peppers first.
Use 200-proof food-grade ethanol as the solvent.
Allow 2 weeks for complete extraction.
Gently shake the mixture each day.
Filter out all pepper solids after extraction.
Freeze the extracted oil to form pure crystals.
Take safety measures when handling the exceptionally concentrated extract.
How is Pure Capsaicin Extracted?
Industrially, pure capsaicin is obtained either through solvent extraction or supercritical CO2 extraction.
In solvent extraction, peppers are soaked in ethanol or acetone, filtered, and the solvents evaporated to obtain high purity capsaicin.
With supercritical CO2 extraction, peppers are blasted with pressurized CO2 to selectively dissolve the capsaicin. This requires expensive specialized equipment.
For DIY hobby extraction, ethanol and careful filtering produces reasonably pure capsaicin crystals suitable for hot sauce or pepper spray.
What is the Best Solvent to Extract Capsaicin?
Based on my experiments, I found 200-proof food-grade ethanol to be the best capsaicin extraction solvent for home use.
Ethanol safely and very effectively draws out and absorbs capsaicin from pepper material. Other suitable solvents include acetone and oils for making spicy culinary extractions.
Always closely follow safety guidelines when extracting capsaicin at home to avoid accidents from skin or eye contact.
How is Capsaicin Obtained?
Capsaicin powder is primarily obtained through extraction from chili peppers using solvents like ethanol, acetone, or oils. The capsaicin can then be isolated from the extract through evaporation, crystallization, chromatography, etc.
Synthetic capsaicin is also produced in laboratories for research purposes, but extraction remains the most economical route for commercial capsaicin production.
How do you Remove Capsaicin from Peppers?
To reduce the spicy heat of peppers, here are some methods I attempted:
Soak diced peppers in ethanol, which draws out capsaicin oils. Discard ethanol and repeat as needed.
Blanch peppers then soak in water for 30 minutes to help break down some capsaicin.
Allow jalapeños to fully ripen to red. Overripe peppers are milder as capsaicin converts to other compounds.
Carefully remove the inner membranes and seeds, as these contain the most heat.
For best results, combine multiple techniques like blanching followed by ethanol extraction to thoroughly remove capsaicin.
References:
Govindarajan, V. S., and M. N. Sathyanarayana. "Capsicum — production, technology, chemistry, and quality. Part V. Impact on physiology, pharmacology, nutrition, and metabolism; structure, pungency, pain, and desensitization sequences." CRC Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 29.6 (1991): 435-474.
Reilly, C. A., Crouch, D. J., Yost, G. S., & Fatah, A. A. (2001). Determination of capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, and nonivamide in self-defense weapons by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Journal of Chromatography A, 912(2), 259-267.
Thomas, B. V., Schreiber, A. A., & Weisskopf, C. P. (1998). Simple method for quantitation of capsaicinoids in peppers using capillary gas chromatography. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 46(7), 2655-2663.
ABOUT AUTHOR
Celine Xu is a botanist with over 15 years of experience researching and developing plant extracts for nutritional and pharmaceutical applications. She leads an R&D team focused on identification, cultivation and extraction of medicinal plants. Celine Xu earned a Ph.D. in Plant Biology has authored numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals about the health benefits of specific phytochemicals. She frequently speaks at industry conferences about new developments in plant extract research. Celine Xu is dedicated to advancing the scientific understanding of how targeted plant compounds can be used to improve human health.
