Thursday, February 16, 2012

IT'S A CHEMICAL WEAPON, ESSENTIALLY: From New Mexico comes word of the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Pepper, weighing in at 1.2M-2.0M Scoville units. I cook with Habenaros often enough. I'm aware of what careless preparation with a hot pepper can do to a hangnail or an errant eye rub, but the flavor of Habenaros in a jerk sauce is worth the risk. Yet at more than a million scovilles, I'm not sure what one could do with a scorpion pepper one could not better do with mace.
at

11 comments:

  1. isaac_spaceman8:59 PM

    For reference, how many Scovilles is a Habanero?  And how many is your garden variety jalapeno? 

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Pathetic Earthling9:19 PM

    I should have noted:

    A Scoville unit, first of all, is a ratio of the volume of a given pepper to be diluted in a volume of water before that pepper drops below the threshold of human taste.  A bell pepper is perhaps 5, Jalapeno about 5000, a Seranno about 15,000, a Habenaro about 300-500K.  That is, if you took one gallon of Habenaro, you'd need more than an acre-foot of water to make it indetectible. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale

    ReplyDelete
  3. Eric J.9:20 PM

    2,500 - 8,000 Jalapeño (Capsicum annuum)
    100,000 - 350,000 Habanero

    http://www.uncommondescent.com/philosophy/a-scoville-scale-for-dangerous-questions/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Phil9:26 PM

    Offhand, I'd say what's needed is a gallon of scorpion peppers (with appropriate complimentary braising ingredients) and an acre-foot of short ribs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Alyssa10:45 PM

    Who eats these peppers?  I am super sensitive and have twice stayed up all night with my hands soaking in a bowl of water just from cooking with serrano peppers (10,000–23,000). Disposable gloves are a must for anyone with sensitive skin.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Adam11:19 PM

    Here's a video of someone trying one.  It's painful to watch a man in this much pain:

    http://www.youtube.com/v/tGPlpyr_BCM&feature" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140

    ReplyDelete
  7. Russ11:56 PM

    Excellent header.  Excellent.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous1:32 AM

    Jesus, what ever happened to good old garlic salt?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Phil9:07 AM

    The combination of masochism and exhibitionism there is kind of uncomforable.  More than kind of.

    ReplyDelete
  10. littleredyarn11:07 AM

    I don't think there's enough Pepcid in the world for me to recover from something like that. What compels some people to eat food that actually hurts?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Squid11:24 AM

    You could meet Coyote.  (He has Johnny Cash's voice.)

    ReplyDelete