Wow! According to Wikipedia, "The ghost pepper has an average of about 1 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU), compared to a jalapeño with around 8,000 SHU or a habanero with up to 350,000 SHU.
Every time I come here I learn something. Today, that was it.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
yeah and I have a regular Ghost Pepper plant and a Chocolate Ghost Pepper plant plus 2 Habanero plants that are flowering and starting to toss out pepper pods
and this one scares the crap out of me
The chocolate ghost pepper, also known as the Bhut Jolokia, has a Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) rating of 800,000–2,000,000, which is considered extreme heat. This is hotter than the average ghost pepper, which has a rating of around 1 million SHU. The chocolate ghost pepper's heat builds up over several minutes and can create a powerful endorphin rush.
The chocolate ghost pepper is a natural variant of the red Bhut Jolokia that originated in Northeastern India. It has a wrinkly, pointy shape and a brown hue, and its flavor is slightly sweeter with a hint of smoky.
"The only thing that we learn from torture is the depths of our own moral depravity"
As I was fond of saying when a teen, "Bitchin'.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
It’s my not so humble opinion, any real cooking with peppers equal to habanero peppers really detracts from traditional flavor.
on a side note, for seed dispersal, it makes no evolutionary sense fir peppers to be hot.
I have not had a lot of exposure to fresh ghost peppers simply due to limited supply. I do have dried ghost pepper since that is easier to find. Occasionally I go to an Old Order Mennonite grocery store and they have a very large selection of spices---including an excellent ghost pepper and salt offering. I remain impressed by my "plain brothers" who increasingly offer very spicey items that they themselves would not touch. If there is a buck to be made, they will find it
My main local grower had some chocolate habaneros a few years ago and they were my first taste of them. They are clearly hotter than green, red, or orange but do have a similar taste. When I told him they were a "step above" the others he stopped selling them mixed with the other colors and segregated them to their own boxes----at a "step above" price
He has not (as yet) planted any ghost peppers, but who knows what this year might bring
I have also been gifted a few Carolina Reapers which are hotter (X2) than the Ghost Peppers---but they offer nothing remarkable in taste and are simply hot as hell---which in fact was the goal of the guy who developed them. I guess the hot wing crowd like them where it seems good is judged by the number of tears that flow with the sweat.
Last edited by Dave Grubb; 07-03-2024 at 07:32 AM.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Can’t look.. askeert that the picture will burn my eyes.. never acquired the taste..
As Tom Leher said..
“ Our old mess sergeant's taste buds had been shot off in the war
But his savory collations add to our esprit de corps”
Have been told that “I’m a delicate f@#$&*g flower”..
Hot just to be hot has ruined many a dish. I prefer peppers to be used as flavoring.
On a side note. I have found that Lucerne is making a Carolina Reaper cheese. Just enough heat to spice up a burger.
I agree on the premise that being hot just to be hot is pointless at best. That said, I know my tolerance of heat is much higher than it once was. That presents a problem for me in my cooking since most of what I do is "to taste". My wife does not have the same tolerance as I have and I can not always taste her threshold of pain
So---I have to be very reserved at the stove---I will get my chance at the table where my bowl of ground hot pepper is never out of reach. I also have learned not to add salt until after I have added pepper and retasted---what once needed salt is now just fine
The jar on the left was on the trip with me
That is probably 90% habanero and 10% Thai green chilies
Last edited by Dave Grubb; 07-03-2024 at 01:46 PM.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Amen.
Wifey thinks the mild sauce served with chips at our Mexican restaurants is hot. Staff don't like it when I bring in my own Scotch Bonnet "Busha Brown" sauce made in Jamaica - but I tip them well when we leave.
Now, the above may make me sound like a Heat Queen - but no. As mentioned above, in this thread, the flavor has to come along with the heat.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
I have a similar issue in restaurants. I carry a supply with me in a contact lens case. I try to not be obvious when I add my pepper but occasionally the wait staff will see me and occasionally will ask me what I am doing. At high end restaurants I just leave them in my pocket
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
I really don't understand the obsession with how hot I can get a pepper. As has been stated above the only thing peppers do for me is flavor. Nothing more nothing less.
OPINION....a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.