Fruits of Bhut Jolokia on plants grown in the field at the Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center.
[quote]World’s hottest chile pepper discovered
Public release date: 26-Oct-2007,
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico – Researchers at New Mexico State University recently discovered the world’s hottest chile pepper. Bhut Jolokia, a variety of chile pepper originating in Assam, India, has earned Guiness World Records’ recognition as the world’s hottest chile pepper by blasting past the previous champion Red Savina. In replicated tests of Scoville heat units (SHUs), Bhut Jolokia reached one million SHUs, almost double the SHUs of Red Savina, which measured a mere 577,000.
Dr. Paul Bosland, Director of the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University’s Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences collected seeds of Bhut Jolokia while visiting India in 2001. Bosland grew Bhut Jolokia plants under insect-proof cages for three years to produce enough seed to complete the required field tests. “The name Bhut Jolokia translates as ‘ghost chile,’” Bosland said, “I think it’s because the chile is so hot, you give up the ghost when you eat it!” Bosland added that the intense heat concentration of Bhut Jolokia could have significant impact on the food industry as an economical seasoning in packaged foods.
Founded in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) is the largest organization dedicated to advancing all facets of horticultural research, education, and application. Society website - ashs.org eurekalert.org/pub_releases/ … 102607.php[/quote]
I calls it chile, not chili or chilli or chillie. But whatever. That’s some hot chiles.
My friend just visited from San Francisco and he brought me a dozen bottles of hot sauce, including several “Pain is Good” varieties, including cayenne mustard seed, jalapeno wasabi, habanero harissa, raspberry chipotle and several other habanero concoctions.
I’ll probably donate the Xtreme, the Raw Heat and the Da Bomb Ground Zero to science, though. Too much for me!
Man, I LOVE hot sauce, but maybe not 234,000 scovilles of the stuff!
The Besos de Fuego, though, will be staying. Yum!
I’m with Sandman. I personally prefer the Spanish-derived chile, a spelling not uncommon in the US. My understanding is that the word was first romanized from Nahuatl as chilli, making that a reasonable spelling, and it then became standardized in Spanish as chile. The English is a loan from Spanish, is it not? So the standard Spanish spelling of chile is reasonable and I would say preferable. It also helps contrast the plant and its fruit with the bean dish chili con carne as well as with the cumin-heavy mixed spice powder (“chili powder”) that you make chili con carne with. Anyway, chili, chile and chilli are all correct, being accepted regional variants. Dictionaries differ in their opinions on this, so there’s no point in pulling out just one book to thump authoritatively.
pedantic wanker…you know damn well that if I had not commented on the spelling one of you would have posted that it was spelled wrong.
How about just enjoying the article and information…?
Sandman…you got the mother load there.
I have some plants growing that should be producing some in a couple of weeks. Still trying to get a variety of seeds for a bigger selection.
I still have a baggie of habanero seeds with your name on them – orange and also chocolate ones (the chocolate ones – dark brown colour – can be described in scientific terms as “motherfucking hot!” I know this is probably too technical, but you can probably look up “motherfucking” in the dictionary.)
I don’t know if they’re still viable or not, though.
I like very spicy sauces as well. However, good flavor is also essential. Some of the “hot going down, burnin’ ring of fire on the way out,” peppers have little flavor or perhaps they’re too high on the SHU scale for anything but heat (read pain) to register.
Give me the old Scotch Bonnets anyday–especially the Jamaican varieties like the ones in jerk sauce. Them be tasty as well as spicy.
Nail on the head. That’s why I favour habanero sauces. There’s nothing like the fruity heat of habanero-based sauces. None of the Pain is Good ones are just heat, though – they all have distinctive flavours. I was given a Pain is Good Jamaican one, too, but I gave it to a friend as I’ve had it before.
If its too hot for me to eat a big dollop of it on a lump of cheese and cracker then I’m not interested, basically. I have no desire to get into “competition” over what kind of chile heat I can tolerate, thanks very much, and I think many of those over-the-top, “chile essence added” are marketed squarely at that fratboy kind of customer. I DO enjoy reading the labels on some of them, though.
[quote=“sandman”]Nail on the head. That’s why I favour habanero sauces. There’s nothing like the fruity heat of habanero-based sauces. None of the Pain is Good ones are just heat, though – they all have distinctive flavours. I was given a Pain is Good Jamaican one, too, but I gave it to a friend as I’ve had it before.
If its too hot for me to eat a big dollop of it on a lump of cheese and cracker then I’m not interested, basically. I have no desire to get into “competition” over what kind of chile heat I can tolerate, thanks very much, and I think many of those over-the-top, “chile essence added” are marketed squarely at that fratboy kind of customer. I do enjoy reading the labels on some of them, though. [/quote]
Sandman, that Dave’s insanity hot sauce you gave me last year was really hot.
A funny story. We had a bbq with some friends and I put the bottle of sauce on the table. One Taiwanese guy was going on about Chinese peppers making the hottest hot sauce and how Dave’s hot sauce couldn’t compare. So I hand him the bottle and he starts shaking the hot sauce onto some chicken. I mean he really really covered the chicken with it. He put so much on that it looked like Tandoori chicken. All the while going on about how spicy he liked his food. He takes a big bite of the chicken and starts chewing. A concerned expression starts to appear which quickly turns to fear and then to absolute terror. He starts grabbing for beer and pours it straight down his throat. Tears start flooding and he begins coughing like he’s going to die. He actually fell down on the ground rolling around and writhing in agony. It took about 30 minutes before he could talk. He just sat there crying and shaking his head. Eventually he could talk and all he could say was “hot” which he hoarsely kept repeating over and over. No word was ever spoken about Chinese hot sauce again.
So thanks Sandman! Arrogance will not be tolerated.
I got busted last night by the wife, who made meatballs and new potatoes in a buttery sauce that had carrots and fresh chiles in it. Really silky and delicious but I just couldn’t place the flavour. She eventually had to tell me she’d used some of my favourite habanero sauce in it – just a touch – but damn, was it ever good!
Speaking of peppers, I just got given the most amazing thing by the woman who owns “my” restaurant here in Bitan – A great big bag of something she calls “mountain peppers.” They’re actually tree berries of some kind, still on the branches, that look exactly like little green elderberries. The branches are very thorny. Apparently she has a friend who knows all about herbs and plants and who went out and climbed the tree to get them. You don’t get these in any shops.
They are scintillating! That’s the only word to describe them. When you crush them on your front teeth they taste exactly like lemon zest, and that’s the smell they have, too. However, after a few seconds, your gums and the tip of your tongue go tingly and numb, exactly like those Shichuan peppers.
Lemon zest and Shichuan peppers in one package. I don’t know what I’m going to do with them yet, but I think they’ll make some really great marinades at the very least.
Woohoo! A new ingredient.
I didn’t take it into the back of my mouth and I also didn’t swallow, so I’m not so sure about the heat. Actually, I’m still tasting the last of it in my saliva and I do think there’s a bit of heat. The tingling and numbness is very pronounced, though.
“Mountain pepper” is the direct translation, but I can’t find it in my tree ID book.
The berries look the same, except the ones I got were in big bunches. I don’t know how to describe it, but they grow exactly like elderberries, if you’ve ever seen them. The ones in your link are growing straight out of the trunk. Also, the trunk in your link doesn’t look thorny – the ones I got have VERY thorny branches and twigs. God knows how the guy managed to climb the tree.
The berries do look similar, though, and they do mention the citrus aspect.
Sandman -
There are some peppers that grow like that in Texas and south. Look like berries on the end of tree branches.
I’ll have to look 'em up and will try to post some info about them. Sounds like they might be similar to what you’ve got. I think the Texas ones have a lot more heat in them.
You’re sound really interesting. I be you could make some nice jelly from them!
I also prefer the taste and piquancy as opposed to just plain ‘hot as hell-fire’
Yeah, I plead guilty. Anyway, I did enjoy the article, thanks!
I hand him the bottle and he starts shaking the hot sauce onto some chicken. I mean he really really covered the chicken with it. He put so much on that it looked like Tandoori chicken. All the while going on about how spicy he liked his food. He takes a big bite of the chicken and starts chewing. A concerned expression starts to appear which quickly turns to fear and then to absolute terror. He starts grabbing for beer and pours it straight down his throat. Tears start flooding and he begins coughing like he’s going to die. He actually fell down on the ground rolling around and writhing in agony. It took about 30 minutes before he could talk. He just sat there crying and shaking his head. Eventually he could talk and all he could say was “hot” which he hoarsely kept repeating over and over. No word was ever spoken about Chinese hot sauce again.
Arrogance will not be tolerated.