Back when I last visited Montreal, my sister gave me one of the greatest gifts ever: a bunch of Ghost Chilis and Carolina Reapers she’d grown in her garden. I love spicy. Very spicy. Even so, at roughly 1 million Scoville heat units, it proved a bit of a challenge. Tasty, but mind-numbingly hot despite the tiny slivered portions and bagel chasers. The Carolina Reaper, at roughly 2 million Scoville units, was just out of my league. There is hotter, but it’s weapons grade, better suited to crowd control than eating.
Still, inspired by my new haul, I returned home and immersed them in oil and garlic for a week, then oven dried them and ground them into a fine powder using my dedicated coffee pepper grinder. Then, I hit my local farmer’s market and picked up a few more tonsil-ticklers: scorpion chilis, habaneros, chocolate habaneros, fatalis, birds eye chilis, and, of course, those wimpy but no less tasty jalapeños. They all went into the oven at the very lowest setting for the better part of a day, and then each in turn took a spin in the grinder. The results were…magical.
I packed away each powdered pepper in tiny individual plastic containers – perfectly portable for all occasions, although I heeded Akemi’s advice and took the extra step of sealing them in individual poly-bags. I mean, next to dousing your pants with lighter and setting a match to them, I can’t imagine anything more unpleasant than a cracked container sprinkling scorpion chilis down the inner lining of your underwear during dinner.
The Wheel of Fire!
So how high up the Scoville Scale can you climb?
I used to enjoy spicy foods (though not THAT spicy). But recent issues with my stomach mean that I pretty much have to avoid all that stuff. 🙁 Even plain old black pepper kind of aggravates it.
I love spicy also, but these days I have to stay below habanero or my acid reflux kills me!
I’m usually in the habanero/fatali territory, but I have tried a ghost pepper before, but that was too hot for me in everyday use. I like some roasted pepper taste along with my heat, and most of the ghost pepper sauces seem to be made for the sensation of heat alone.
And if I ever get talked into trying one of your Carolina Reapers, I’ll make sure I have a couple of days spare afterwards to recuperate!
Wow, that video was rough to watch. If it was bad going down, think how brutal it was coming out. Ouch!!!! 😆
And watching that video, I was thinking that while I can handle a ghost pepper as a one time thing, adding in all the peppers before it on the Scoville scale would kill me…(or at least chemically blast out the plumbing 😉 )
The cumulative effects were pretty obvious by the end.
Cayenne pepper in small quantity… bought a cheese with habanero and sometimes, jalapeno… but nope, won’t go farther on that scale even with a pack of zantac 😁
Spicy! I rarely even go as high as habanero, I am a wimp. I know where to get a good serrano salsa verde, and even that’s about my limit. My husband can eat ghost pepper sauce by the spoonful. I think he’s immune to the pain of heat.
Holy Sh**, you are crazy insane. I lost my tolerance of spicy back in my late 40’s and now can only climb as high as a seeet bell pepper. Even some mild salsa send my a mouth and digestive system in revolt against. Getting old really sucks. I loved spicy food. It was so very very tasty 😋
Enjoy you good looking spices.
Hey Joe!
This year I joined the “grow your own chillies”- club and I must say it was very satisfying watching them grow. I had two hybrids and a multi colour jalapeno. The latter was nice to watch because the fruits are violet at first, turn yellow and lastly red. At some point the plant looked like a rainbow bush 😀
This pepper was between a Cayenne and a SerranoI think. I enjoy hot food but I think I’m not gonna get much higher up the mouth burning, sweaty, Scoville scale.
On the other hand I made a hot present to my brother. I found Bhut jolokia seeds (aka Naga Viper) in a normal convenience store inSwitzerland and he grew them in three different pots all turning out huge. In my opinion he has enough peppers to pepperspray the entire city of Munic, ha!
He can’t eat those whole, though!
Love your new pepper collection. I’m gonna put some in oil for pizza and some I’m gonna dry like you did. I froze mine till I have the time to process them.
Btw, the extra plastic bad is a fantastic idea. I’m gonna do that too 🙂
Still love to read your blog
Wish you the best,
Birdy
So, you DO have a limit? I’m down near the bottom near Cayenne or Jalapeno. I wish my dad were still alive. He’d get a kick out of trying Ghost peppers. He liked to eat hot peppers raw, with a drink of buttermilk. Even with his hiatal hernia, he’d would still indulge.
Did the ground pepper aerosolize while grinding? I’d have to wear a mask/gloves. That would have to a dedicated pepper grinder now.
Thanks Pbmom! I wish you lived near here. I’d have no worries leaving Lucy with you.
Porque?! What could you possibly win that would be worth scorching your tummy with blazing peppers?
Now your homemade pepper spices, that I can get with, perfect for chili and for awesome dips blended with sour cream. I bow to your pepper mastery, the colors are awesome. I like hot but savory; I put a little cayenne and sriracha on pretty much everything.
My limit is probably habanero, and only cooked in food, never raw. I used to enjoy a good Indian vindaloo every now and then (which resulted in me being nicknamed “Dave Lister” in my early ’20s) but these days I prefer flavour over fire and usually choose the milder varieties of curry.
I never made it to the Bath Chilli Festival while I was living there. After seeing that video I regret missing it, now!
I enjoy some amount of heat, but most of those peppers are just to hot to be tasty.
Some time ago, Wendy’s had Ghost Pepper Fries and they were too hot to be enjoyable for me. I ate one order of them, but never ordered them again.
I usually just put Sriracha on everything and that’s hot enough for me.
I would love to hear from a physiologist on what is transpiring. Does this do damage to stomach or intestinal endothelium?
I’ve been recklessly wild and actually made it to poblano. But jalapenos is where my throat closes off from swelling.
That is a very impressive process though to create a powder.
Ugh my stomach is hurting just thinking about all that spice. 😀
Spice and hot is delicious, but even if I come from a land of really spicy chiles, I cannot fathom why I would like to eat them raw and like the contest shown. Kudos to the winner, but I will stick to my salsas and cured chiles and only a few raw ones combined in a meal, thank you. 🙂 🙂