Feeling hot, hot, hot? Perhaps it’s the capsaicin in your chile peppers, an antioxidant that thwarts food spoilage and may protect blood vessels. It also makes peppers hot—in more ways than one (hence the spicy folklore that piquant peppers rev up sexual desires).

If you added a little too much spice to your dish, opt for dairy over water—water won’t extinguish the fiery sensation because capsaicin doesn’t dissolve in water. Reach for milk instead: it contains casein, a compound with a chemical structure that attracts capsaicin and pulls it off receptors, much the same way soap lifts grease off your hands.

Wash your hands thoroughly after removing the seeds or wear rubber gloves; most of the chile oils are found in the seeds and connective membranes. The ratings of each pepper’s heat or pungency are given on a scale of 1-10, where 10 is unbearable.

Bell Pepper

Square-shaped, commonly up to 6 inches long. Ripens from green to red, orange, yellow, brown or purple. Varieties are nonpungent except for Mexi-bell.
Heat factor: 0
Substitutes: Banana, Cubanelle, pimento peppers. Use fresh or dehydrated.

Cayenne

Elongated fruit that ripens from green to red and in new varieties to yellow and orange. It is 5 to 6 inches long and is pungent to very pungent [7 to 8]. Most common type of Capsicum grown in the world and bears a different name in every country.
Heat factor: 7
Substitutes: Jalapeño, serrano for fresh and dried Thai, de arbol for dried. Use fresh or dried.

Jalapeño

Wider shape than cayenne with blunt point, matures from a bright or a deep blackish green to red. It is about 3 inches long and ranges from pungent to very pungent [5].
Heat factor: 5
Substitutes: Caloro, serrano. It will not air-dry and must be smoked. Use fresh, smoked or canned.

New Mexico Chile

Also called Anaheim, with a flattened, elongated-tapering shape. It ripens from green to red. The 7-to-10-inch-long fruit is mildly pungent to pungent, depending on the variety [1 to 4]. It is used fresh, dried or canned.
Heat factor: 2

Paprika

Made by grinding dried, highly colored, relatively mild red fruits of one or more varieties and is used to season and color food. Sweet paprika has had more than half of the seeds and veins removed, while hot paprika contains veins, seeds, stalks and calyxes, depending on the grade.
Heat factor: 0

Poblano, Ancho, Mulato

Irregular, cone-shaped fruit tapers to a blunt point and ripens from dark green to red or brown and is up to 6 inches long. Mild to pungent [3].
Substitutes: Mexi-bell, New Mexico chile, Anaheim. The ancho (which ripens red) and the mulato (which ripens brown) are used dried. The unripe, green peppers of both varieties are called poblanos.
Heat factor: 3

Serrano

Elongated pepper, about 2 inches long with a blunt apex. It ripens from green to red. It is pungent to very pungent [6 to 8].
Heat factor: 6
Substitutes: Fresno, jalapeño, Thai. Often used in table sauces and guacamole.