The Existential Question About Chillies

[Jade Emperor]

Wasn’t sure where to put this, but chilli is a fruit, so I am not wrong!
The existential question is obviously - “do you deseed before adding it to your cooking?”
I don’t. A lot of people believe that the heat in a chilli comes from the seeds, but this is not entirely accurate.
Much of the heat that you get from a chilli is coming from the pith. Removing the seeds will generally take away some of the heat, but it isn’t necessary if you want less fierce chilli flavours.
The better way, in my opinion, is to just use less.
What say you?

 

[blissful]

On one hand mr bliss doesn't like hot peppers, so there is that, and if we eat bell peppers (all the time) we remove the seeds.
On the other hand, we've got serrano peppers that have some hot to them. I dehydrated them and they are mostly seeds and the flesh dries up to almost nothing. I make a hot sauce with that, and it is hot.
So sometimes I use the seeds and other times not.

Neither of these are fierce. They are wanna be fierce chilis.

 

[pepperhead212]

Sometimes, but seldom, even with the hotter ones. Mainly the Mexican types, that have larger cores. Before I got my Vitamix, I would remove the seeds, when I would strain it, to remove the seeds and skin, but now that just grinds everything up, and I don't even see the seeds. As for the fresh peppers, minced up, I almost never remove the seeds, except for the large ones, just to remove the core. The heat is not something I want to remove!

 

[thymeless]

I don't like their texture. They mess up the food texture and they're usually a little bitter so I dump them when I can.

 

[Andy M.]

I remove the path and seeds as I don't care for the texture and to reduce the heat level. Not a fan of a lot of heat.

 

[Kathleen]

It depends on what I am making. I with remove the seeds and pith when making stuffed bell peppers. With salsa, I keep it in.

@pepperhead212 The Vitamix is the best imho. I agonized forever over whether to get one or not. When opportunity to get a great price on the food processor/blender bundle came in, I bought it. It has been awesome to use.

 

[taxlady]

Sometimes I find the seeds bitter, which I really dislike. Some peppers seem not to have bitter seeds. I will have to figure which peppers those are. Birdseye peppers don't seem to get bitter seeds. So, sometimes I remove seeds and sometimes I don't.

 

[pepperhead212]

Just like they say the seeds are "hot", it's actually the pith that's bitter - if you wash the seeds, they are pretty much flavorless! And some peppers are bitter green, but not ripe, while some are always bitter, green, ripe, or dried. So I never grow them again! Some are good green, red, and dried, which is unusual! And small ones, like Thai peppers, I can't be bothered removing the seeds from, and I can't see most people doing that, either.

 

[dragnlaw]

Actually pepper I do remove the seeds from the little bird's eye Thai peppers. Otherwise just too hot for me.

I also remove the seeds from sweet peppers, no reason just do.

 

[dr morbius]

I remove the seeds and pith from jalapenos all the time. That way, I get lots of flavor and almost no heat.