I definitely felt like I was being shown the man behind the curtain.

I felt like I was talking to somebody who was telling me that they knew what really happened to JFK or where the aliens are.

Nobody's been hiding this information.

Nobody's been conspiring with this information.

But somehow we just missed it.

This is the Sporkful. It's not for foodies, it's for eaters. I'm Dan Pashman. Each week on our show, we obsess about food to learn more about people. Today we have an episode I am very excited to share from our old friends at Dakota Ring. In case you don't know, Dakota Ring is Slate's podcast about cracking cultural mysteries,

hosted by the great Willa Paskin.

Now I love Dakota Ring.

It's an excellent show, and we've teamed up with them in the past for an episode about

hydration.

Today we're collaborating with them again for this episode called How the Halapeno lost its heat. For more than a century, Americans have been

obsessed with Mexican food and ultimately have changed it. Willis speaks with Dallas-based

food critic Brian Reinhardt, who fell in love with spicy Mexican cuisine as a teenager and also

started to notice that the jalapenos he'd buy in the grocery store were less and less hot.

Turns out, this is a real mystery. Let's see if they can crack it.

Now, for listening to this episode, I hope you'll check out more Decoder Ring episodes,

food mysteries, all kinds of stories, like how did a made-up fruit, the blue raspberry,

take over the candy aisle?

And why are leftover containers like Tupperware so trendy?

Decoder Ring has episodes about the tooth fairy, ice cream trucks, plus one about the children's book if you give a mouse a cookie and how it collided with the culture wars.

Make sure to follow Dakota Ring wherever you get your podcasts.

Now, here's Willa Paskin.

...