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New Chili Is World's Hottest
bazzalunatic writes "The Trinidad Scorpion Butch T chili is grown and harvested by an Australian company, and not by the inmates of an Australian insane asylum as rumored. The chili is claimed to be the world's hottest (1,463,700 SU), surpassing the current Naga Viper chili at 1,382,118 SU. From the article: '"They're just severe, absolutely severe," says Marcel de Wit, The Chili Factory co-owner. "No wonder they start making crowd-control grenades now with chilies. It's just wicked." The chili is so scorching that Marcel and his team have to wear protective gear when handling the new variety. "If you don't wear gloves your hands will be pumping heat for two days later," he says.'"
I like hot food, very hot food, but I don't see any of these hottest chilies making it to my pantry any time soon.
Outside of the curiosity of how much Capsaicin we can get a capsicum to produce, these don't appear terribly useful in dietary circles. Though I suppose someone could host a contest of gastonomic masochists to see who can eat the most.
For painkiller they might be useful. I grew Habanero peppers and a woman at work asked if she could have some for her grandfather. A day after I gave her bag of a dozen she said he really appreciated them - could he get some more. I was awestruck - "He ate all of them already?" No, he mashed them up and applied them to his arthritic hands to take the pain away. Aha. Well done, him. I had more than I needed and gave them as many as they could take - the plants really went to town from mid July to late August in Michigan heat and humidity.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Which is why as I've gotten older I've more or less decided that anything beyond a banana pepper or a jalapeno is pointless.
I just don't enjoy it anymore, and my first encounter with habaneros pretty much showed me that things like a mouth that stays on fire for hours and burning hoop just aren't fun. I've just never been able to enjoy super spicy foods as much anymore -- at least not at the endurance end of the spectrum.
The dairy is nice because it's kind of an off-switch -- and, really, all the cultures that have the spicy food use dairy to quench the heat, so why is it cheating? It's not like it's some manly endurance test to take the full heat without any relief ... well, I guess to some it might be.
I'm sure some people really do enjoy these things, but I've more or less given up. I know someone who has used so much spices over the years, and smoked for long enough that she has no taste buds left ... if it's not spicy as hell, and/or salty as hell, she can barely taste it.
Mostly, however, this article makes me think of Guatamalan Insanity Peppers from the Simpsons. :-P
Lost at C:>. Found at C.