New Chili Is World's Hottest

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Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday April 12, 2011 @04:00AM from the it-tastes-like-burning dept.

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.'"

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COME ON ICE CREAM!!! by Spritzer · 2011-04-12 04:00 · Score: 4, Funny

Someone better find a better ice cream to start chasing these chilies with.
1. Re:COME ON ICE CREAM!!! by wierd_w · 2011-04-12 04:11 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  It's hard to beat liquid nitrogen frozen icecream; It produces extremely fine grained ice crystals in the icecream, resulting in superior creaminess.
  Can be made in any number of delicious flavors.
2. Re:COME ON ICE CREAM!!! by grub · 2011-04-12 04:14 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I don't mind the pain of eating spicy foods.
  
  What I don't like is the anal searing I feel as the lava is being extruded from my quivering sphincter.
  
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3. Re:COME ON ICE CREAM!!! by rogueippacket · 2011-04-12 04:26 · Score: 2
  
  I don't think it's a question of "what's the point", but "how high can you go". Considering that a run-of-the-mill Chili pepper runs at about 40 000 SU and can make food unbearable for most of the population, growing a pepper which is almost 40x hotter really only has one use - crowd control. Even if you are a seasoned spice hound and eat Habanero peppers for breakfast (at 200 000 SU), this thing would burn a hole in your stomach lining if you ate it whole.
4. Re:COME ON ICE CREAM!!! by marsu_k · 2011-04-12 04:49 · Score: 2
  
  True, but also the taste. Once you get used to the heat (yes, your tolerance grows quite quickly) you learn to appreciate the flavours, they do exist even in the hottest varieties. I personally prefer Naga Jolokia over Habaneros - not only you have to use less, the taste is much sweeter and fruity. Habaneros are quite bitter.
5. Re:COME ON ICE CREAM!!! by Anrego · 2011-04-12 04:58 · Score: 2
  
  Agreed.
  This is why I like scotch bonnets over habaneros. They both have the same heat, but I find scotch bonnets impart a nicer flavour.
  I'd also note that tolorance drops quite quickly too! I had to stop eating excessively spicy food for a few months (for reasons unrelated to the food) .. and I couldn't even make it through the supermarket "spicy" chili that I used to jokingly scoff at for a while afterwards.
6. Re:COME ON ICE CREAM!!! by gstoddart · 2011-04-12 05:15 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  If it's so hot that you need something to kill the pain, it's too hot to be reasonably enjoyed.
  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
  
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7. Re:COME ON ICE CREAM!!! by Hatta · 2011-04-12 05:15 · Score: 2
  
  When it is that hot, you singe your taste buds anyway.
  You realize the "heat" is just a ligand receptor interaction. There's no actual heat there. Spicy food does decrease your perception of other flavors, but this is not a cytotoxic effect. It's not quite clear how it happens, but since capsaicin application under the tongue can depress taste perception on the tongue it's probably some sort of cross talk between the pain fibers and taste fibers before they reach the brain.
  
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8. Re:COME ON ICE CREAM!!! by eleuthero · 2011-04-12 07:38 · Score: 2
  
  Pain releases endorphins too--there's a physical need for them to react appropriately to a situation causing you pain. Makes me wonder about those who cut themselves for the pain / release involved as compared to the above poster who likes peppers for a similar reason.
9. Re:COME ON ICE CREAM!!! by The+Living+Fractal · 2011-04-12 08:11 · Score: 2
  
  No, the pain is very real. The existence of harm is the illusion.
  
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  I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
10. Re:COME ON ICE CREAM!!! by mug+funky · 2011-04-12 12:25 · Score: 2
  
  this thread is full of chili wussies.
  it's not like we sit alone, crying, listening to linkin park and eating chilies.
  we get drunk with our mates and try to out-do each other. then after a minute or 5 of searing pain, you get the sweet sweet rush.
  after 1 such experience, you've developed a tolerance to the pain (but the rush still happens), and a wee bit of an addiction to the rush.
  chili wussies are the reason it's so hard to find decent Thai food outside of Thailand. everything in my town is overburdened with coconut cream and palm sugar, because white bread dicks can't take a little spice.
Sissy units by Omega+Hacker · 2011-04-12 04:07 · Score: 2

Let me know when you have something to measure in terabecquerels.... ;-)

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What's the point? by Literaphile · 2011-04-12 04:07 · Score: 2

I don't get it - what's the point? With a chili that hot, even if it's diluted in a sauce you're not going to get anything resembling a nice flavour or taste, just fire in your mouth. I'd much rather eat something that packed a moderate punch along with decent flavour.
1. Re:What's the point? by dragonhunter21 · 2011-04-12 04:13 · Score: 2
  
  Riot control. Imagine if even a diluted version of that pepper were to get sprayed at you. You'd be face-down in the dirt, crawling at your eyes in seconds.
  
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  Sent from my CR-48
2. Re:What's the point? by Duradin · 2011-04-12 04:20 · Score: 2
  
  It's the same point as putting linux on your [toaster|vacuum|console]. Bad experience, limited use, but you do it anyways.
  I don't know about this new one but Bhut Jolokias are difficult to grow, much more finicky than most peppers, so it's a challenge and if successful a chemical weapons plant.
3. Re:What's the point? by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · 2011-04-12 05:10 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  I have never had a problem growing Bhut Jolokias up here in Minnesota in the summer. We have some nice hot humid days and it still can get cool in the night. I do have to start them inside each year since it is still possible to get some hard freezes even now. I love these peppers since these are what I consider a hot pepper, I grow also grow jalapeños, bell, cayenne, habanero and can eat all of them fresh off the plant like candy. Fresh ones are always better and hotter than the ones from the store
  Interesting story. One time I was making chili and forgot to wash my hands after cutting up all the peppers (about 2 bells, 12 jalapeños, 12 cayenne, 6 habanero, and 6 Bhut Jolokias) and went to pee. I ended up curled up on the floor in the fetal position for about half an hour I have never felt that much pain ever. I was numb for several hours afterwards. I never notice it on my hands as they are rough and calloused, but it is a different story on sensitive skin.
  
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  Time to offend someone
Does not fempute? by uberjack · 2011-04-12 04:12 · Score: 4, Insightful

You have to wear protective gear, yet in TFA photo, they aren't?
1. Re:Does not fempute? by jd · 2011-04-12 04:22 · Score: 3
  
  They were experimenting to see if it causes mutations.
  
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Drugs by PhreakOfTime · 2011-04-12 04:13 · Score: 2

I don't get it - what's the point?
It releases quite pleasurable natural drugs in your brain.
Endorphins
It's a legal drug, for now.
Like Hotdog eating contest by ackthpt · 2011-04-12 04:19 · Score: 4, Interesting

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.

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Re:Paradox of sensation by Drakkenmensch · 2011-04-12 04:27 · Score: 3, Insightful

You don't care much about that itchy rash on your leg when your face is melting off.
Best comment ever by Saija · 2011-04-12 04:34 · Score: 2

and not by the inmates of an Australian insane asylum as rumored

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Re:Meh. by PPH · 2011-04-12 14:31 · Score: 2

On the contrary. The half life Fukushima jokes is pretty short.

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