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Indian Military Hopes to Weaponize the Searing "Ghost Pepper"
coondoggie writes "The military in India is looking to weaponize the world's hottest chili, the bhut jolokia or 'ghost pepper,' according to a number of news outlets. The Bhut Jolokia chili pepper from Assam, India is no ordinary pepper. In tests first conducted by the New Mexico State University in 2008 and subsequently confirmed by Guinness World records and others, the Bhut Jolokia reached over one million Scoville heat units, while the next hottest, the Red Savina Habenero, clocks in at a mere 577,000. Scoville units are a universally accepted measure of chili hotness."
Scoville units are a universally accepted measure of chili hotness
I thought SCOville was universally accepted to be a litigious outhouse?
Screw invading Iraq, next time do India. Don't forget the nachos though!
It does taste good. Has an excellent, complex and slightly smoky flavour. Also about as spicy as most pepper spray.
I am American, not Indian, BTW. Just a pepperhead.
Not a sentence!
From past experience I can recommened the development of a chicken Vindaloo bomb. It will cause injuries when dropped then again about 24 hours later.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
The next hottest down would be the closely-related Dorset Naga, which is around 900k - 1M scovilles.
But that's if you believe the Scoville scale, which is a subjective measurement of capsaicin content. I've had sauces that advertise a 250k rating that don't seem as hot as some 50k stuff. Makers seem to artifically inflate their ratings all the time, and how the heat hits you can change a lot, too. I've never had the oppertunity to try a Dorset Naga myself, but I've heard they don't have much heat until about 20 minutes later (at which time you might have already had quite a few, popping them like candy).
Not a typewriter
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kO7MlHgJLA
Hopefully that's the right link.
There's a burger in TX that uses this pepper called the Four Horsemen Burger. As of the taping of this episode of Man Vs Food, only three people had managed to finish one in 25 minutes, with an additional 5 minutes of waiting without liquids. The host of the show became number 4, though it looked like he wasn't going to get past even the first bite.
Isn't that illegal (internationally) if a weapon causes this much pain and suffering?
Fifty watts per channel, baby cakes.
From TFA "When deployed, the grenade showers the targets with a dust so spicy that in trials subjects were blinded for hours and left with breathing problems." Still pretty mild compared to weaponized mustard.
India had weaponized chili peppers long ago - it's called Andhra cuisine.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
Eating raw Jolokia is a source of some mildly entertaining videos.
Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old
That might work for preventing the spread, but the way that capsascin(sp) works is by activating all the receptors on the nerve. That's where the "heat" comes from, sensory overload.
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)
A pepper gap such as this cannot be tolerated. The security of our nation depends on meeting or exceeding these advances! At the very least, a space based pepper shield should be a highest priority. Pepper is Not A Game! Oh, wait, it is. My bad.
Back when I was working in New Mexico, there was a fair in Taos. One of the guys there was selling Dave's hot sauces, including their new ghost pepper variety. I bought the "temporary insanity" (57,000 scoville units according to this), and it's too hot for me except small doses. About a year later, the bottle is still mostly full.
My roommate, who has a much higher threshold for spicy food than anyone I've ever met, brought the newly unveiled ghost pepper brand (2.5 million scoville units, according to the bottle, if memory serves).
The dealer gave us a taste of it (a tiny drop on the tip of a toothpick) and my god did it burn.
The guy who sold it to us told us a few interesting things about it: (1) It instantly blisters skin on contact (2) it's very expensive to buy over the internet because it has to be shipped as a hazardous materiel. (3) Not only is it good for eating, but it works great as a caustic agent for degreasing driveways, engines, etc.
In short - ghost peppers are not something you play around with.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
Yes but capsaicin is a fat-soluble compound. Water won't dissolve it (which is why drinking water or most liquids do nothing to stop a burning tongue), but milk, yogurt, or any other fat-containing liquid will dissolve it and wash it down the throat, nearly neutralizing the effect.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
The article implies that 1,000,000 scoville's is nasty stuff compared to the habenero. Yet when looking at wikipedia's entry on the scoville scale, it says law enforcement pepper spray is rated at 5,000,000 to 5,300,00 million scovilles. In other words, the pepper spray currently on the market is already stronger than the bhut jolokia. So what's the news then, if they are developing a weapon with significantly less strength than what's currently on the market?
So it should be safe to use on your food. http://www.madeinnewmexico.com/647293003150.html
I can't wait to taste this in a batch of chili.
The active ingredient that makes that pepper so hot is Capsaicin, the same stuff in pepper spray.
Is it actually cheaper for them to use the local grown pepper with a variable yield than just using the pure substance with a controlled yield?
The article says they want to use it for troops in cold areas. This scares me. It heavily implies that some moron in charge has no understanding of science. Just because it tastes hot doesn't mean it'll help avoid hypothermia in the slightest. (In fact, they are more likely to succumb to hypothermia if they try to 'reduce' the 'heat' from those peppers by taking off clothes or drinking cold liquids or sucking snow.)
I'm going to throw out a guess that this isn't about the effectiveness of the pepper, but rather a homegrown movement to use a local product (in an inferior form) rather than a possibly foreign product. Sometimes the politicians in India are know to do stupid things like that.
Come to think of it, sometimes US politicians do the same thing...
(Buy American! Even if it's a piece of crap that costs three times as much as the one made in Canada, or where-ever.)
One last thing, don't forget that exposure to high doses of Capsaicin can seriously mess you up, and in some extreme cases, kill.
(For example, gassing someone who has asthma.)
I must be missing something here:
1) I'm pretty sure it's a banned weapon militarily speaking.
2)Who cares which pepper the capsaicin came from!? How would this be any different than any of the current commercial pepper sprays/balls/bombs?
...Isn't this going to be a war crime, even if it's very good at neutralizing personell for a while without killing them? Granted I've never been hit with pepper spray or similar, but from the descriptions given by police cadettes (having to have a dose used on themselves before being allowed to use it) I would probably (besides the self-defense trial issues) batter someone quite severely rather than spray them with that stuff. And that's *normal* pepper spray. It would probably be used for temporary area denial (or whatever the proper military term is), sure, but when I saw this I got quite vivid flashes of screaming women and children.
Emotions! In your brain!
Then the spray has had its intended effect.
It's supposed to stop you from doing something by incapacitating you with pain and temporarily blinding you.
Whether you are rolling on the floor screaming and ripping your eyeballs out by their bloody stalks, or rolling on the ground screaming and blindly smearing mango Lassi on your eyes is really irrelevant - your hands are otherwise occupied and cannot go for your gun, and you are temporarily blind.
Plus I have to imagine something this high on the Scoville scale would actually do some burn damage before you can wash the capsacin away with your oh-so-handy dairy product. This stuff is ten times as potent as pepper spray, and by all accounts pepper spray REALLY HURTS. Something ten times as potent would probably look at your yogurt and laugh derisively as it sets in enough tissue damage to make you feel pain for a significant period of time.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
Sort of a slightly sweet/smoky mix, not really bitter at all. Very mild sourness, then spice. Aftertaste lasts for a while.
Not a sentence!
So... they're trying to make pepper spray?
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
It's not actually caustic. Capsicum just lowers your threshold of heat, so the nerves feel like they are in a hot area. Thus, it "burns" you. Blistering is a reaction to this. If you can use it as a caustic agent it probably has a lot of vinegar added.
Not a sentence!
Modern expressions of pungency in terms of Scoville units set pure capsaicin at either 15,000,000 or 16,000,000, and use HPLC to establish concentration of same (and related compounds). A Scoville rating is then set based on the concentration(s) measured.
So, knowing the reference standard, the measurements are actually quite objective.
Nobody, as far as I know, uses taste testers anymore.
In Liberty, Rene
Three words: Pakistan and China. They've been to war several times with the former, and have had bloody border clashes with the latter. India has also blamed Pakistan for terrorist violence over Kashmir, among other things, including the bloody attack on the Grand Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai.
It's worse now that Pakistan has nukes, but realistically Pakistan is not a viable military rival for her much larger and far more populous neighbor. The scenario that keeps me up at night is the growing rivalry between the world's two most populous countries, India and China. As China's economy booms and she becomes more assertive on the global stage, both nations will find themselves on a collision course in a competition for resources, and it's interesting to see how it will play out in the coming decades, particularly from a political standpoint, considering that it's a contest between the world's largest democracy and an authoritarian giant (my money is on India).
I'm not Indian, by the way, and I'd be very interested in hearing the viewpoints of any Indian and Chinese Slashdot readers. In your opinions, will the 21st Century see the development of a bi-polar world all over again, with competition and rivalry between two economic powerhouses who espouse radically different political philosophies?
(1) It instantly blisters skin on contact
(3) Not only is it good for eating...
I'm having a hard time reconciling the first clause of fact #3 with fact #1.
That's because "Fact" 1 isn't.
I've been handling all sorts of hot peppers for many years, and the particularly hot ones are very capable of producing a burning sensation on the skin just like in your mouth. And Rubbing your eyes inadvertently will ruin your evening, there is no doubt. But blistering? I sup[pose it could happen if you had an allergic reaction, but that's not even remotely going to be a common thing.
It's been my experience that dealers and vendors are really in to hyping the dangers of the sauces that are typically named "Loco", Death" and "Devil" based scary named variations.. And well they should, it's really good for business, and selling product is what they do.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
The guy who sold it to us told us a few interesting things about it: (1) It instantly blisters skin on contact (2) it's very expensive to buy over the internet because it has to be shipped as a hazardous materiel. (3) Not only is it good for eating, but it works great as a caustic agent for degreasing driveways, engines, etc.
the guy who sold it was ragingly full of shit.
I have let it sit on my skin for 20 minutes to prove it's a fake claim... Won $100.00 in the office after that and eating a taco with it on it. (they dont understand that sour cream really kills it's burn)
It's not acid, it dont burn the skin and is worthless for degreasing driveways.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
In fact, Indian farmers say Bhut paste can be used for everything from sauces to tear gas. And there in lies the military's interest.
The Indian military is interested in the many uses of Bhut paste? I ... I don't know how to respond to this in a mature manner.
If your apt doesn't get enough sun, you need to use "apt -get more-sunshine". (You might have to change your sources to the beta-global-warming source repository first).
That fetish might be less popular than you think it is.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
TRPV1 antagonists (of which capsaicin is one) can cause rashes and inflamation on the skin, but it takes a very high concentration. The only way I could see getting a blister is from a serious allergic reaction.
Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
That's contrary to what I know: Capsaicin binds to the TRPV1 receptor, which has a primary function of activating due to heat (>43C according to Wikipedia). The same receptor is present on some (but not all) pain nerves. The "second pepper isn't as hot" desensitization effect is due not to damage but to depletion of calcium used to transmit the signals from the affected nerves. You haven't killed anything off, just used up the fuel they use to signal the brain.
It's also not a permanent pain reliever, it is temporary. It can last longer than other methods though. AFAICT it can last for a few weeks.
Not a sentence!