Jalapenos together with other spices provide an interesting flavor that can really lift a dish that people otherwise might find a bit bland.
But, I was curious if there are any other benefits to eating jalapenos, and here’s what I found.
Jalapenos can help to reduce the risk of cancer, improve heart function, fight off infections, relieve pain, improve your ability to lose weight, and are particularly high in vitamin C.
The reason for these benefits is that jalapenos contain capsinoids.
Various peer-reviewed studies, such as this one have shown that capsinoids currently are only known to be found in chili peppers.
Chilli peppers include capsicums, jalapenos, habanero chili’s, and peri-peri. And that capsinoid has the benefits listed above.
On top of these benefits, jalapenos also contain beneficial nutrients.
Those found in the highest amounts are:
These numbers are for 1 tablespoon (1 oz, 28g) of jalapenos which is a fairly normal portion for Western meals.
In cooking sometimes only the seeds are used, or the seeds are scraped out, and only the skin is used.
In general, the seeds provide the most spice and if eaten on their own create an extreme burning sensation unless a person has a particularly high tolerance to spices.
And dried chili powder generally contains the seeds as well as the flesh of chilies.
Pickled jalapenos are good for you. However, the pickling process removes the vitamin C, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B-6. This is the case for all pickled vegetables. The pickling process also generally involves adding a lot of salt and can cause a person to consume too much salt per day.
When vegetables including jalapenos have been pickled a liquid is added.
This liquid is called brine and is typically a mixture of water, salt, sugar, and vinegar.
The amount of salt added varies based on the recipe.
Or, the pickled jalapenos you buy.
The recommended daily intake of sodium is 2.3g, which is equivalent to ½ a teaspoon.
A common amount of salt used to make brine is 2 tablespoons of salt per quart (1 liter) of water.
Not all of this salt gets into the jalapenos as they are pickled.
However, 2 tablespoons of salt are the same as 6 times the recommended daily intake of salt.
So, depending on the amount of salt you otherwise consume in your diet you may be getting too much salt.
Looking at some popular brands of pickled jalapenos it appears an average serving of 2 tablespoons of pickled jalapenos contains 10% of your recommended daily intake of salt.
This generally, shouldn’t be an issue depending on the amount of salt you consume in the rest of your diet.
But, to be aware of it you otherwise consume quite a bit of salt.