What is Cheongyang Gochu?

Cheongyang gochu is a small, very hot green chilli pepper grown in Korea (Latin name: Capsicum). It is used mainly as a food and seasoning, and in home practice as a warming ingredient for cold weather, poor appetite and a blocked nose. Its heat comes from capsaicin.

It is a single herb, not a mixed formula. In Korean kitchens it goes into stews, kimchi, sauces and pickles, fresh or dried. Away from the kitchen, capsaicin taken from peppers is put into creams and patches for sore muscles and nerve pain.

Here is the honest verdict. This pepper has a long, settled place in Korean cooking and folk practice, but long use in a tradition is not proof that something treats an illness. Almost all of the human research is on capsaicin rubbed on the skin, not on eating this pepper.

How does Cheongyang Gochu work?

The heat you feel is a nerve effect, not a burn. Capsaicin grabs a heat-sensing switch on nerve endings called TRPV1, and your body reads that as burning, sweating and a runny nose.

When capsaicin is used on the skin again and again, those nerve endings become less responsive for a while. That is the idea behind capsaicin creams and patches for nerve pain, and it is the best-tested effect.

Eating chilli also raises heat production and saliva flow for a short time, which may be why it feels clearing when you are stuffed up. Whether eating it changes appetite, weight or pain in any lasting way is not settled.

What forms does Cheongyang Gochu come in?

You will mostly meet it as food. Common forms include:

Fresh whole peppers, dried whole peppers, gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes or powder), pastes and sauces such as gochujang made with chilli, and pickled peppers.

Capsicum also comes as capsules, tinctures and standardised capsaicin creams or patches. These concentrated products behave very differently from food and carry most of the risk described below.

Where it comes from:

Chilli peppers reached Korea in the late 1500s and were fully absorbed into Korean cooking within about a century. Chilli became central to kimchi, stews and pastes.

Cheongyang gochu itself is modern. It was bred in South Korea in the 1980s and named for the Cheongsong and Yeongyang areas, so the cultivar is recent even though chilli use in Korea is not.

In Korean folk practice, hot pepper is treated as a warming food for cold days, weak appetite and damp, chilly weather.

What does Cheongyang Gochu help with?

• Nerve pain (as a capsaicin cream or patch on the skin): This is the only use with real clinical testing, and the tested product is a measured capsaicin patch or cream, not a pepper from a shop. Some people with nerve pain get useful relief; many do not, and burning at the site is common. Eating Cheongyang gochu has not been shown to do this. Do not try to make your own skin preparation from peppers, as you cannot control the dose.
• Muscle and joint aches (topical capsaicin): Low-strength capsaicin creams are sold widely for aching muscles and joints. Trial results are mixed and the benefit, where it appears, tends to be modest and slow to build. Again, this evidence belongs to standardised creams. It does not transfer to eating the pepper.
• Poor appetite (traditional food use): Korean food practice uses hot pepper to wake up a dull appetite and make plain food more interesting. It does increase saliva and may make a meal easier to start. No human trial has tested this pepper for appetite. Treat it as a reasonable kitchen habit, not a treatment.
• Feeling cold or chilled (traditional food use): Hot pepper is a classic warming food in Korean home cooking, eaten in winter stews and soups. Capsaicin does briefly raise heat production and makes you sweat. That is a short-lived effect, and it has not been tested as a remedy for anything. It will not treat a low body temperature, which needs medical care.
• Blocked nose and thick mucus (short-term food effect): A hot pepper makes your nose run, which can make a stuffed nose feel clearer for a short time. Some people use spicy broth for this when they have a cold. There is no good trial evidence that it shortens a cold or clears a sinus infection. If a blocked nose lasts more than ten days or comes with fever and face pain, get checked.

Which foods are rich in Cheongyang Gochu?

1. Kimchi: often made with Korean chilli flakes or whole hot peppers
2. Gochugaru: Korean chilli powder or flakes made from dried peppers
3. Gochujang: fermented Korean chilli paste
4. Spicy stews such as budae jjigae and kimchi jjigae: fresh peppers are added at the end
5. Pickled Cheongyang peppers: a common side dish

Practical Tips:

In Korea this pepper is eaten as food far more often than it is used as a remedy.

What are the side effects of Cheongyang Gochu?

• Burning in the mouth, lips and throat
• Heartburn and reflux (acid coming back up from the stomach)
• Stomach pain or cramping
• Loose stools, and burning when you pass them
• Sweating, watery eyes and a runny nose
• Skin redness, stinging or burning from handling cut peppers
• Painful eyes if you touch your eyes after handling peppers
• Coughing or wheezing from chilli dust or cooking fumes
• Nausea or vomiting after a very large amount

Good to know:

Most side effects are short-lived discomfort, not harm. Burning in the mouth, sweating and a runny nose are expected and pass within about half an hour.

Stomach and bowel effects are the common real problem. Heartburn, stomach pain and loose stools happen more often if you eat a lot, eat it on an empty stomach, or already have a sensitive gut.

Serious harm is rare but does happen. Very large amounts or chilli-eating challenges have caused severe vomiting, chest pain and, in isolated reports, damage to the food pipe. Concentrated capsules and skin products carry more risk than food.

How much Cheongyang Gochu should you take?

• Recommended daily: There is no established dose for Cheongyang gochu, and no health authority has set one. As food, people use anything from a slice of one pepper to a whole pepper in a dish, to taste. For capsicum capsules or extracts, follow the label and talk to a pharmacist first, especially if you take other medicines. Concentrated products are not the same as eating pepper in a meal. For skin products, use only a ready-made capsaicin cream or patch at the strength on the label. Never make your own.
• Best time of day: Any time, as part of a meal. Avoid a large amount late at night if you get reflux (acid coming back up from the stomach) when you lie down.
• With or without food: Always with food. Eating chilli on an empty stomach makes stomach burning and discomfort much more likely, and capsules are better tolerated with a meal.
• Time to effect: The heat, sweating and runny nose start within seconds to minutes and fade within about half an hour. Topical capsaicin creams usually need daily use for one to two weeks before pain changes, if it changes at all.
• How long to take it: As a food, it can be part of your normal diet for as long as it agrees with you. Stop if you get ongoing heartburn, stomach pain or loose stools. For capsicum capsules, give it no more than a few weeks before deciding whether anything has changed, then reassess with a pharmacist or doctor.