The only things I do not like to eat have to deal with under-cooked (or, uncooked) inner organs of various ruminants. Tongue, tripe, liver... blah! Forget it. I'd rather die. I'm also not into eating anything that is still alive.
Its no secret that I like things spicy, though. Chips and salsa, Tabasco... they are all modern day manna. Food from heaven.
Today, I may have found my match. Don't get me wrong... I'm not one of those guys that can eat food still on fire or breath in Bear spray. I don't snack on dried jalapenos or drink Drano. I simply like food spicy, and almost without exception, the spicier, the better.
Shopping at Giant Eagle, I found a new product by Mrs. Renfro's Gourmet Salsa.
Note that this isn't "Mild", "Medium", or "Hot". It is classified on the jar as "Scary Hot". So, I bought it and took it home with a bag of tortilla chips.
She's right... it is scary hot. The smell from the jar nearly set off the smoke detectors in the house. My hair started to sizzle when I bit into it. Then, my throat and tongue when numb. Then, I swore a flash of fire burst from my mouth when I yelled, "Wa-hoo! That's hot!"
The ingredient: Bhut Jolokia, a.k.a, "The Ghost Pepper". Rumor has it that when you bite into one of the babies, you turn into an apparition.
After several pints of milk, I decided to look up this food item on the Internet to see what its all about. In case you didn't know, peppers are rated on the Scoville scale. A green bell pepper is 0. A jalapeno is about 5,000 units. The habanero pepper, which is my favorite, is about 200,000 units. The ghost pepper: a mere 1,041,000 units. The only way to get something hotter is to artificially make it or plunge it into the belly of a nuclear reactor.
A "unit" represents how much of the spicy plant extract would have to be diluted to get it back down to "undetectable". So, a drop of ghost pepper juice would have to be diluted over a million times to bring it back to sea level.
In 2007, the Guinness Book of World Records names Bhut Jolokia as the world's hottest naturally grown pepper. Nothing is hotter. In fact, this pepper, along with others, is what is used in the manufacturing of law enforcement pepper spray and "irritant ammunition" for the US military. And, the concentrates of this wonderful gem can immobilize a charging grizzly bear.
I also found some other interesting facts. The ghost pepper can cure depression (probably because a depressed person who eats one actually has to get up off the couch and run to something to quench the burn); relieve arthritis (I think even a dead person would find the will power to open a jug of milk after ingesting this stuff); lower blood pressure; and even fight off the flu, colds, and stomach ulcers.
No kidding... seriously, what foolish organism would WANT to live in an environment flooded with ghost peppers?
I also found this great article-- the Indian farmer who grows these things has a great photo in it:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20058096/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/t/think-you-can-handle-spicy-try-ghost-chili/#.TvTITzWLPZc
Anyhow, go buy some and enjoy. Now, I've gotta find our Pepto Bismol...
