When you’re sat soaking up the sun what kinds of food run through your mind? Maybe ice cream, fresh salads or fruits such as watermelon? Well recent studies have found that hot foods like curries containing peppers are actually the ones to cool you down.

Chillis are grown in some of the warmest regions, providing us with fiery foods like Indian curry, Thai soup and Jamaican jerk. Crying from the bite of a hot pepper or sitting over a bowl of steamy soup may be the last thing you fancy on a hot summer’s day. But these kinds of food stimulate heat receptors in your mouth, enhancing circulation and causing you to sweat, which cools the body down.

If chili peppers are too hot for your liking, you can also use other alternatives such as ginger, black pepper or sichuan peppers to add spice up your dish. The thought of spicy food makes us sweat but we like the idea of dishes such as cool and spicy fish with cucumber salad and refreshing drinks like ginger beer!

Do you enjoy hot and spicy food at this time of year? If so, what are some of your favourite dishes? Or would you rather enjoy an ice lolly? Let us know!