Comments on: Mastering Man Food: Knowing Your Peppers

By: Albert

Albert — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 10:05:00 +0000

I just ordered seeds for Chile piquin plants. Haven’t had one since I was thirteen but have tried for years to buy the seeds. Found them on amazon and just had to hay em. Cost me ten dollars total for 100 seeds bit I say well worth it

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:35:50 +0000

I first learned about hot spicy foods at the chow hall in the AirForce. Since then I have been a cautious adventurer to ever more hot foods. Hot Thai, Burmese, and Napali foods get regular visits. What my wife and I now do is make Jalapeno and Habanero jelly. On chicken or crackers with cream cheese both are fantastic.. The hottest pepper I have tried is the Fatalli in chilli and chicken noodle soup. Very flavorfull but verrrrrrrrrrrrrry hot.

By: Corporate Drone

Corporate Drone — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 02:51:01 +0000

Feh. Hatch green chiles — while delicious — are child’s play!
Child’s play, I say.

By: Chris L

Chris L — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:37:12 +0000

An article about chile’s, and no mention of the famous green chile of my homestate New Mexico! For shame, AoE.

For those of you not in the know, about the only thing New Mexico is famous for besides the atomic bomb is our chile’s. Picked when green when intended to be used immediately, or let ripen to a dark red when you intend to dry them, these peppers pack a punch equal to about 2 to 3 Jalapenos.

They’re so popular you can get them on your Mcdonalds burger, if you were inclined to call what mcdonalds serves a burger, or food for that manner.

By: Art

Art — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 03:45:09 +0000

I, like Brendan, also ate a whole dark orange habanero on a dare. I got 15 bucks out of the deal, well worth it, but I did it about 45 minutes before gym class, and ended up running to the locker room and puking after a set of pushups. I had never experienced that kind of pain before. The hottest I’ve ever had was a habanero concentrate paste that a guy in New York gave me on some Asian food about 8 years ago. It would be interesting to know what the SHU count becomes in some of these concentrate pastes.

One pepper that is missing, that is available at least in NY city grocery markets is the Guyana Cherry, which I think is called the Wiri Wiri pepper. They are also fairly hot, but have a unique taste. I also like Datil peppers from Louisiana. Although not too hot, they sometimes add a nice flavor. My dad had a jar of some of that pepper sauce that he aged for like 10 years, and it was pretty good.

I have serious doubts about this amazing US History Teacher’s jalapeño… I have tasted jalapeños from my grandparents garden in AZ that were grown dry and hot and as spicy as you can get, and they were seriously cake compared to even mild habanero’s. Maybe the teacher later started a pub in the UK with his modified “jalapeño”…haha.

Actually, for me, there is a certain tiredness factor that comes into play in eating spicy food. If I am running on minimal sleep, such as from law school exams, the subjective spiciness of a pepper that I feel in my mouth is, let’s just say, greatly increased. But with a good amount of rest, I actually enjoy even the spiciest flavors and can taste the subtleties amid the fire.

So my real question is whether there is any real danger from capsaicin. If you have enough of it in a hypothetical sauce, could you accidentally melt your face off? Or maybe cause blindness? An ulcer is certainly possible, but there are people that eat really hot stuff everyday that are fine. I eat pretty hot stuff all the time, and I’ve never had a problem like that. I mean, there has to be a reason why its painful, and I’m wondering what that reason is. Does it simply excite the nerve endings enough to cause pain? Any info is appreciated.

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 06:13:42 +0000

Habanero is about the most I can handle…jeez. I can’t imagine a Naga Viper or Ghost Chili…I want to have an eating contest with my friends…

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 06:06:54 +0000

Tony, that’s exactly what is being said…..real men eat pork. What else do you want to cry about?

By: Chris Homan

Chris Homan — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:48:32 +0000

As far as peppers go, I’ve not had anything hotter than a habanero. Definitely willing to try a few more of these varieties, though. Could be interesting.

By: Chris M

Chris M — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:53:10 +0000

I’ve eaten all those peppers, with the exception of the jolokia variants. :D
The hottest pepper I ever ate was actually a jalapeno that my U.S. History teacher in high school grew. He brought them to school and we all had a pepper-eating contest. I haven’t a clue what kind of plant food he gave those jalapenos, but they were hotter than any habanero I’ve eaten since.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:15:24 +0000

Hottest pepper I have ever eaten was an entire habanero on a dare; a vibrant dark orange to boot. Spent the next half hour drinking milk and chewing on ice cubes. But after that everything spicy that is sold in stores isn’t nearly as hot they make it out to be.