Cathy2 wrote:David,Did you eat the entire dish or were those first few bites enough?

I had about three bites from the pictured "small plate" version of the entree. I ate a little more yesterday. It doesn't take a lot.

I picked up some aleppo pepper at The Spice House a week or two ago, and so far it is great. So far the best thing I've made was a squash soup based on http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/10/the-leaf-peeps/ , but instead of cumin & ginger I used a healthy dose of aleppo.

Seebee was kind enough to drop two fresh Ghost Peppers (or do you call them California Death Peppers) in my mailbox this morning.

I clipped the tip off of one, put it in my mouth and bit gingerly with my front teeth. Too hot. Spit

So I chopped up a somewhat larger portion, sautéed the few little pieces in oil, and added them to one scrambled egg with about an ounce of American Munster cheese. I figured cooking might moderate the heat; it seemed to.



This simple preparation proved a good balance of rich dairy and hot chili. The burn was quick and clean and even given the quantity I put in the eggs, quite pleasant. I used the narrower, seedless end of the chili, and I’m guessing it gets hotter as I move toward the stem.

Ribs at Twin Anchors tonight. Now served with Bhut Jolokia sauce.



THE WIFE: These are pretty good.

ME: Don't say that! It will send Gary into a rage.

THE WIFE: I think they're good.

ME: There's no way I can protect you now.

David Hammond wrote:ME: There's no way I can protect you now.

Your bride is a wonderful person, it would take a lot more than I can easily imagine for me to become angry with her. You, on the other hand.......

Funny, but before I even read the text I thought the ribs looked particularly unappetizing. Jolokia BBQ sauce sounds tasty, if TA did not add l*quid sm*ke.

I smoked a couple of racks of ribs Monday for Ellen to take to a girls night, simmered a split habanero in the sauce then removed. Sauce turned out really well, rind and juice from lime, lemon and orange and the ribs were lightly glazed with peach juice. A very 'girly' combo.

Which ribs would you rather eat, TA above or what I smoked on Monday.

Baby Back ribs with peach glaze

Rick T. wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:Just found jolokia pepper plants at Clarke's Garden Center on Route 30 in Ford Heights (right off 394). Plant tender guy said that they were the special project of the son of the owner but I guilted him into selling me one. Healthy looking plant that will hopefully yield some little beauties for homemade pepper sauce in a few months...fingers crossed!

Found the same at Mileager's garden center in Racine today. Also a pepper called the Caribbean Red Hot which is advertised as hotter than a Habenero.

The Mileager's plants were a total bust. All the same plant and little heat.

Rick T. wrote:

Rick T. wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:Just found jolokia pepper plants at Clarke's Garden Center on Route 30 in Ford Heights (right off 394). Plant tender guy said that they were the special project of the son of the owner but I guilted him into selling me one. Healthy looking plant that will hopefully yield some little beauties for homemade pepper sauce in a few months...fingers crossed!

Found the same at Mileager's garden center in Racine today. Also a pepper called the Caribbean Red Hot which is advertised as hotter than a Habenero.

The Mileager's plants were a total bust. All the same plant and little heat.

Mine was interesting...couldn't discern much of a difference in flavor between the "ghost" pepper and the regular habanero but, then again, my sampling wasn't very scientific (see Hammond's post above--taste--spit--soak tongue in milk bath). They all made for a very tasty hot sauce though. I'll be keeping an eye out for them again next year...

I tried the Bhat Jolokia pepper both in sauce form as well as salsa when I was at NMSU's Chile Pepper Institute. While it was hot, I did not find it that much hotter than a habernero sauce. The two young ladies working at the center were surprised that I would even try.

You can purchase the seed and other products at the NMSU Chile Pepper Institute website - but be warned that there are hefty minimum purchases on those peppers.

AND if you are interested in growing the BHUT JOLOKIA pepper:


Here are some "SPECIAL BHUT JOLOKIA TIPS" from the NMSU Chile Pepper Institute (NMSU: The Chile Pepper Institute - Home). They are provided to buyers of the bhut jolokia seeds sold by the institute.

"Bhut jolokia require soil temperatures between 80 and 90 degrees F for proper germination. You may need to supply bottom heat with a propagation mat."

"Soil must be kept moderately moist, never being allowed to completely dry out and never allowed to grow soggy. This will destroy the embryo in the seed and they will not germinate."

"The bhut jolokia can take up to 36 days just to germinate and have a very long growing period, up to 160 days before harvest."

"The bhut jolokia is extremely hard to grow and we do NOT recommend it for the novice grower/ gardener. We have a very low supply of seed and cannot replace seed packets of this particular variety."

And then comes this pepper:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookou ... trip-paint

I bought a .25 ounce bag with around 15 dried bhut jolokia peppers by Melissa's at Strack and Van Til.

Strack and Van Til
2627 North Elston Avenue
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 252-6400

deesher wrote:I bought a .25 ounce bag with around 15 dried bhut jolokia peppers by Melissa's at Strack and Van Til.

There's definitely a joke in there somewhere.

From an exchange with a Milwaukee-based cowoker:

Dan's Coworker wrote:I do love heat - I can eat about 6 Jolokias without flinching... I'm sort of fireproof in that regard.

-Dan

6 Jolokias!!!!!!!!! My oh my!

Bhut Jolokia, meet Trinidad Scorpion Butch T

Vicki at Genesis Growers is growing bhut jolokia and what she referred to as naga jolokia this year -- she said maybe just 5 or so plants of each. She had a basket or two of the latter at Green City Market for sale today and she said the bhut jolokias should be in next week or the week after.

I'd be interested in how people's bhut jolokia are faring - we've thought of growing these (i've got some seeds broguht back for me). One factor i've heard in the relative hotness of chili's is also the dryness of the climate - long dry growing seasons make for hotter peppers, most of S India has been in drought conditions for some time now and I've heard the chilis there are insanely hot. I'm not sure this is true of where the naga's originate (which I think is assam) but may be a factor in there getting a lot of press more recently for the titles of hottest chili pepper

zim wrote:I'd be interested in how people's bhut jolokia are faring - we've thought of growing these (i've got some seeds broguht back for me). One factor i've heard in the relative hotness of chili's is also the dryness of the climate - long dry growing seasons make for hotter peppers, most of S India has been in drought conditions for some time now and I've heard the chilis there are insanely hot. I'm not sure this is true of where the naga's originate (which I think is assam) but may be a factor in there getting a lot of press more recently for the titles of hottest chili pepper

None of my pepper plants has been too happy with all the rain we had in spring and this summer -- several Melrose Pepper plants just freaked out and died. My bhut jolokia plant, however, is actually looking pretty good, and yesterday I noticed a number of small flowers on it, so that's a good sign that fruit could be coming in the next few weeks.

I actually have a few nice sized peppers already (seems pretty early) on mine and lots of blossoms. We'll see what happens...

zim wrote:I'd be interested in how people's bhut jolokia are faring - we've thought of growing these (i've got some seeds broguht back for me). One factor i've heard in the relative hotness of chili's is also the dryness of the climate - long dry growing seasons make for hotter peppers, most of S India has been in drought conditions for some time now and I've heard the chilis there are insanely hot. I'm not sure this is true of where the naga's originate (which I think is assam) but may be a factor in there getting a lot of press more recently for the titles of hottest chili pepper

I have a fresno and habanero plants that are going crazy -- at least in my non-existent pepper growing experience. Each has at least a few dozen chiles growing with more flowers showing up daily. I picked the first fresno today and some more are just starting to show color.

I want to call attention to an interesting article about Michael Solomonolov, of Zahav, an Israeli restaurant in Pittsburgh. His investigation of spice combinations is one element of the piece. HIs tabbouleh with apples, walnuts, and pomegranate features urfa biber.

In other news, Melissa's offers Bhut Jolokias. I picked up a package at my local Whole Foods in Saint Louis.

You should watch this video to learn more about Urfa Biber (or Isot as it is locally known):

Thanks for the video. Interesting. Who's the "reporter" and what is the clip from? (I did notice a small link to potentpepper.com) He seems to be fluent in Turkish (I assume that's what they're speaking).

Somewhere, I have a lengthy article I ripped out of an old issue of Cornucopia, a magazine devoted to Turkish history and culture with an always-fascinating food piece. It was devoted to peppers in general throughout Turkey. If I can dig it up, I'll report further. I remember it was long and included a number of intriguing-looking recipes as well.

@Gypsy Boy:
I am glad you liked the video.
As you pointed out correctly, the video is from Potent Pepper.com and was shot in Sanliurfa in Southeastern Turkey.
Don't frown if you cannot find the Cornucopia article. You can find great recipes on the website. Would be interesting to learn what Cornucopia wrote about Turkish peppers, though...

Cool vid, urfa.

We have been greatly enjoying the isot pepper from Lezzet's. It's much milder than our default black pepper (Telicherry, good, basic stuff), actually rather soft (which makes sense after seeing the video), with the feel and flavor of...tobacco. Slightly sweet, tingly but not hot.

Has anyone heard that the Bhut Jolokia has been dethroned? According to a report from Emma Laperruque of dourmet.com, the Bhut Jolokia is no longer the World's hottest pepper. That title has been assumed by the "Carolina Reaper," grown by Puckerbutt Pepper Company in South Carolina. Reported in Indyweek Chapel Hill.

Josephine wrote: Puckerbutt Pepper Company

Great company name for that particular product!

Eva Luna wrote:

Josephine wrote: Puckerbutt Pepper Company

Great company name for that particular product!

I forgot to include a link in case anyone wants to do a taste test. And the correct name of the company is PuckerButt.

British chef went temporarily DEAF after eating the world's hottest noodles

...
The ‘death noodles’ have 100 bird’s eye chilies crushed together giving it a Scoville rating of 20 million - compared with hot Tabasco which is just 5,000 on the scale.

After Ben scoffed the noodles he started sweating, became dizzy, had to soak his head in water and even went deaf for two minutes.
...

Cathy2 wrote:British chef went temporarily DEAF after eating the world's hottest noodles

Temporary deafness is not unknown among serious chile aficionados. In his 1992 capsicum classic, Peppers, Amal Naj (then a Wall Street Journal reporter) described his experience with a particularly peppy specimen.

Amal Naj wrote:That first full-fledged encounter with habanero was memorable for the large amount of the local beer, Negra Leon, I consumed with dinner, and more importantly, for the faint deafness that persisted for a few hours after the meal. About that mild deafness the waiter said, “That’s so you don’t hear your own screams.” He laughed and then with a serious note diagnosed the symptoms as “a feeling of high.”

I’ll occasionally glance at the scientific literature on chiles (the molecular cloning of the capsaicin receptor in 1997 is one of my all-time favorite scientific papers) and it appears that the physiological basis of capsaicin-induced deafness is finally being unraveled. Here’s part of the abstract from Wu, Song, Shi, Jiang, Santos-Sacchi and Nutall (2011) Effect of capsaicin on potassium conductance and electromotility of guinea pig outer hair cell. Hearing Research 272:117-124.

Wu et al wrote:Capsaicin, the classic activator of TRPV-1 channels [the capsaicin receptor, an ion channel] in primary sensory neurons, evokes nociception [sensing of heat and pain]. Interestingly, auditory reception is also modulated by this chemical, possibly by direct actions on outer hair cells (OHCs) [cells that detect/amplify sound in the inner ear]. Surprisingly, we find two novel actions of capsaicin unrelated to TRPV-1 channels, which likely contribute to its auditory effects in vivo. First, capsaicin is a potent blocker of OHC K conductances (IK and IK,n). Second, capsaicin substantially alters OHC nonlinear capacitance, the signature of electromotility – a basis of cochlear amplification.

Edited to correct spelling and clarify the function of OHCs.

Rene G,

I am glad I highlighted this article, because your response was far more interesting. I will never test this myself, unless it was a total accident.

Do you have any idea how much once must ingest to get this level of reaction from your body? Could a person more sensitive to capsaicin have this reaction at a much lower level of consumption? I have a feeling quantity counts for this to happen.

Thanks!

CAthy2