How do you do with black pepper? As far as I can tell, the "hot" chemicals are capsaicin, peperin (black pepper and long pepper), allyl isothiocyanate (mustard, wasabi, horseradish, radish, and turnip), and hydroxy-alpha sanshool (Szechuan peppercorns). The way I experience them, pepperin is the closest in effect to capsaicin -- although Lis perceives them differently than I do, so I know it's not universal.