Anyone ever done it? All I can gather from the web is just using ethyl alcohol to concentrate it. Are there any food safe procedures that are more efficient? I have a bunch of Red Savina Habaneros and would like to concentrate the Capsicum to add a drop or so to large batches salsa or sauces so the heat is added but not any new flavor. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Ask Von Bass he did it a while ago. There is a pictorial about it, i can dig that up if you want but it uses a soxhelt extractor ::p

Ask Von Bass he did it a while ago. There is a pictorial about it, i can dig that up if you want but it uses a soxhelt extractor ::p

I would greatly appreciate it if you dug up the pictorial.::P I'll have to try to turn my reflux still into a makeshift soxhlet extractor now. :/

I'm going to add a hunch of mine. If capsaicin is your aim, it's got that nonenamide group on there which looks pretty nonpolar, which means it might be susceptible to a butane extraction, and with further purification could probably get to a crystalline purity. If this could work, I could give more tips than anybody else to running a butane extraction.

If you wish to simply make a strongly concentrated, food grade, capsaicin solution, there's a couple of ways, depending on how much equipment you have.

I don't know you, and to be honest, I'm guessing very little, no offence at all intended. If that's true, I would honestly recommend you take a bottle of the strongest drinking alcohol you find, Everclear if you're in the US, chop up your chilis as fine as you can, and soak them in it for a week or three, shaking every day. Filter, and boil down to a quarter of the original volume, re-filter, and you're good.

The solution, if it works, will turn bright red, but there is honestly no flavour at all other than stupendous burning.

I did something very similar, but held the alcohol under reflux for about three hours I think, which I assumed would increase extraction efficiency. Ideally, you could do this too, but you'd be likely to lose a lot of alcohol if you can't do it under reflux. I personally went on to reduce to an oil, which solidified to near solid, so don't boil down too far if you wish to be able to add drop wise.

If you happen to have a soxhlet apparatus, that's your ideal it of kit, ethanol as your solvent.

I would greatly appreciate it if you dug up the pictorial.::P I'll have to try to turn my reflux still into a makeshift soxhlet extractor now. :/

I would be strongly inclined to avoid mixing glassware you would use for standard chemistry, and that which you are using to create food safe materials...

It may be a small risk of contamination (maybe even smaller if you clean the glass well, using base/acid baths), but I like to play it kinda safe in that respect...

I would greatly appreciate it if you dug up the pictorial.::P I'll have to try to turn my reflux still into a makeshift soxhlet extractor now. :/

No need to! I was wrong:

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=a53246ab8c91c068d2db6fb9a8902bda

It is in german but i guess you can figure it out, it is really not that hard. Let us know!

Just thought of something. DMSO would be a really poor choice of solvent for this particular extraction. Not that that was really relevant, I just wanted to put that out there.

Just thought of something. DMSO would be a really poor choice of solvent for this particular extraction. Not that that was really relevant, I just wanted to put that out there.

Indeed and also a waste IMO.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Von Bass: How much more efficient do you think it would be to use a soxhlet extractor? I currently have a reflux still with a removable head - I think I could add another chamber before it with a siphon and what not(probably would take awhile considering my lack of experience). Would it be worth it?

stateofhack- Thanks for the pictorial. It looks like the device they are using is just a still with a horizontal lyne arm and jacketed condenser. But, in the second picture of the device, things look a little different. I could use some interpretation.

How much more efficient?


A soxhlet extractor is constantly in motion man, always refilling the bottom flask you will have it all if you leave it overnight, if you have a heating mantle of course.

How much more efficient do you think it would be to use a soxhlet extractor? I currently have a reflux still with a removable head - I think I could add another chamber before it with a siphon and what not(probably would take awhile considering my lack of experience). Would it be worth it?


I reckon you'll be fine without the soxhlet, particuraly considering they simply let the chillies stand in ethanol for 2-3 days... Reflux would probably bring that time down to a few hours, but I would probably a) chop the chillies finer than they did; b) leave them stirring at room temp for a few days; c) reflux for 2-3 hours at the end and, possibly, d) select a different solvent by looking up the relative solubility of capsaicin.


It looks like the device they are using is just a still with a horizontal lyne arm and jacketed condenser. But, in the second picture of the device, things look a little different. I could use some interpretation.


This is just a simple distillation set up - nothing fancy. The reason they look slightly different is that in the first, a heating mantle is used, and in the second they use a hot plate. The swap is because the size of the flask used is reduced, thus the 250ml heating mantle would not be suitable for the 50ml flask.

I reckon you'll be fine without the soxhlet, particuraly considering they simply let the chillies stand in ethanol for 2-3 days... Reflux would probably bring that time down to a few hours, but I would probably a) chop the chillies finer than they did; b) leave them stirring at room temp for a few days; c) reflux for 2-3 hours at the end and, possibly, d) select a different solvent by looking up the relative solubility of capsaicin.





This is just a simple distillation set up - nothing fancy. The reason they look slightly different is that in the first, a heating mantle is used, and in the second they use a hot plate. The swap is because the size of the flask used is reduced, thus the 250ml heating mantle would not be suitable for the 50ml flask.

Thanks alot for the help! Your interpretation really cleared up the pictures for me. I'm excited to get started.

btw, i think green, unripe chillies have more capsaicin in them

I personally don't think it will be any less efficient, but I reckon you'd find it easier to end with a pure solution of capsaicin. What sort of purity do you want? If it's anhydrous crystalline capsaicin you wish, then I think soxhlet and column chromatography is the way you want to go!

As someone said, be fastidiously anal about cleanliness; I personally think if purity isn't that important, then the 'dump chilli powder in a bottle of high strength alcohol' idea is the best, becuase you're less likely to end up with chemical residue in your food.

Either way, do keep us posted, although this topics been done by most, its still interesting :)

This is really simple to do actually, I guess you could use a method that the Chinese use in cooking!

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/szechuansaucesseasonings/ss/chilioil.htm

That's the best way to make it I think, but I've also made a weak solution of pepper spray just by letting cayenne powder and chili powder sit outside in a solution to brew, then filtering it out. You could also use an espresso machine loaded with the crushed pepper flakes and such to create some kind of potent brew. I think you would have to run it through the system twice or so though.


best of luck,

-- Alex

Don't do a Soxhlet extraction unless you want candy. Peppers have natural sugars in them and using a Soxhlet extractor gets the sugars out along with the Capsaicin. I did not realize this until I had a big sugary mess at the bottom of my beaker after concentrating.