[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Capsaicin (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 8/21/2010 8:52:32 AM EDT
 OMG!!!
So I decided to grow my own Savina Habaneros this season. I have a small herb garden that I split up and used half for a few pepper plants, a grape tomato plant, and some heirloom tomatoes. The peppers have been slowly coming out..the grape tomatoes have been a bumper crop...every days I take a few dozen...very sweet and flavorful. The herbs have been strong, the fruit has been perfect...and I noticed that a couple of the Habaneros are ripe. Picked one about an hour ago...sliced off a small piece about the 1/4 the size of a 10 cent dime coin. Chewed it up well....lips went numb, mouth on fire. The fire in my mouth disipated quickly, but my lips stayed numb, and then my nose began to burn. Then I started sweating....and everywhere the sweat touches in on fire. Now the entire front of my face is hurting big time 
I guess the peppers will be strong this year 
Diced up what was left and mixed it with honey. Going to save that and use it for some wing sauce during the week. Also planning to lightly smoke some of the peppers, then dehydrate them, then grind into powder....like cipotle powder but with habanero instead....I'll use that for chili over the winter and also to make some dry rub for pork, chicken, etc. |
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Quoted: What's the overall point of something that hot? If you eat that stuff often, you gotta go hotter and hotter to make it feel the same. The theory goes, it releases endorphins and relieves pain (by burning out the nerve endings so they can't "talk" anymore). So, a gradually increasing craving for a slight high... and you end up 'needing' habaneros. |
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What's the overall point of something that hot? I dont know, you'd have to ask God....he made them 
As far as my use....strictly as a seasoning. I dont eat them raw or as a food by themself...just a pinch here or there to taste them and know what I am working with. One pepper will be enough to season a few dozen wings easily. The powder I make from a few should last my 6 months easily...and that is with making a few big batches of chili. Just thought about pickling some eggs and putting in one habanero minced up....that ought to be interesting....everything I have pickled so far loses its spice....will be curious to see how the vinegar affects these little monsters |
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You should soak them all in oil and then decant the oil into a spray bottle. I used to make spice oil years ago....put the oil in a pan and apply very low heat....just bring it up to around 150-175 degrees...mince up habanero (or other un-Godly hot devil spawn of a pepper) and let it sit in the oil for an hour or two, stirring occcasionally. After that, bottle the oil up and use it for cooking.....great for fried noodles, frying meat, etc. And yes....my face is still on fire since the original post I made. You could have fit the sliver of pepper I ate inside a spent .22lr case....and 90 minutes later I'm still hurting. Unreal stuff. |
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Quoted: Quoted: What's the overall point of something that hot? I dont know, you'd have to ask God....he made them As far as my use....strictly as a seasoning. I dont eat them raw or as a food by themself...just a pinch here or there to taste them and know what I am working with. One pepper will be enough to season a few dozen wings easily. The powder I make from a few should last my 6 months easily...and that is with making a few big batches of chili. Just thought about pickling some eggs and putting in one habanero minced up....that ought to be interesting....everything I have pickled so far loses its spice....will be curious to see how the vinegar affects these little monsters They evolved that way to keep animals from eating them. |
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I have 4 Habanero plants at the moment, all with peppers on them.
The flesh on the outside is somewhat sweet and citrusy, and pretty spicy. The whiter flesh towards the seeds is insane, but the heat goes away pretty quick 
The poblano plant has a similar heat, but lasts much longer 
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They evolved that way to keep animals from eating them. Capsaicin produces a cell reaction similar to certain aspects of heat damage ~so they produce a feeling of heat (not strictly a taste). Birds don't have cell receptors sensitive to capsaicin. The hotter the pepper the more likely that only birds will eat it ~spreading the seeds over a wider area than ground animals would. |
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When you grind them, wear a dust mask and sealed goggles or you will get it in your nose, mouth and eyes! I ground some serranos once and learned the hard way. Very good information...will use an n95 and some goggles. It is now hours later and my nose still burns inside a bit. My sweat was burning me for hours after that tiny little bit of pepper. Brutal stuff. I've had habanero many times and I cant recall it being like this. The wings ought to be great
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Red savina was the hottest pepper before they discovered the "ghost pepper". Those are serious stuff, +300,000 scoville I think. The ghost is well over a million scoville. for comparison, jalapenos range up to 13,000 scoville. I've got several plants of those (ghost peppers/Bhut jalokia) established, plus a few Peri-peri's (another "hottie"). May have to post an AAR if I survive .
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Quoted: My father-in-law planted these in our backyard before he went back to Indonesia. I think the little bastards may be hotter than the habaneros. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/corwin1968/IMG_2738.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/corwin1968/IMG_2736.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/corwin1968/IMGP1721.jpg The little ones in the middle pic are what we called "chili pequines" in South Texas. They're definitely warm and will make chili...interesting. Wear gloves when you mess with them. |
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When you grind them, wear a dust mask and sealed goggles or you will get it in your nose, mouth and eyes! I ground some serranos once and learned the hard way. Very good information...will use an n95 and some goggles. It is now hours later and my nose still burns inside a bit. My sweat was burning me for hours after that tiny little bit of pepper. Brutal stuff. I've had habanero many times and I cant recall it being like this. The wings ought to be great I got a dehydrator and dried out a whole bunch of habeneros. I have to be real careful when I grind them up
They are great when you want to add heat without adding peppery flavor. |
I'm a complete hot pepper novice and this is the first year I have grown them. I have 9 pepper plants but they're all hot. These are my Cayenne peppers. My wife is adding the red ones to spice up the pickles she's making:
The Jalapenos are hot and tasty. I've been eating them with my grilled cheese sandwiches: 
These are Portuguese hot peppers. I'm eating these raw too but my wife has pickled a few as well. They're a little hotter than the Jalapeno: 
These are the Cherry Bomb red peppers. They're not as hot as the Jalapeno, but they still give a nice burn. IIRC, ColonelHurtz said these are good pickled and then stuffed so I'm going to do that with the remaining ones on the plant. 
These are Caribbean red peppers. They're very hot, approaching that of the Habanero pepper. I cut one of the green ones up and ate the flesh only with a little bit of the 'veins' and a couple of seeds. This pepper is fiery hot and I'm going to let the rest of them get red and then pickle them. 
These are Habaneros. I haven't tried any of the green ones. I think I'll let them get orange and pickle them or try to make a sauce with them. I'll have to find a recipe. ETA: The plant was twice as big but an area rug was drying on the railing, fell and cut the plant in half.
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My father-in-law planted these in our backyard before he went back to Indonesia. I think the little bastards may be hotter than the habaneros. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/corwin1968/IMG_2738.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/corwin1968/IMG_2736.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/corwin1968/IMGP1721.jpg The little ones in the middle pic are what we called "chili pequines" in South Texas. They're definitely warm and will make chili...interesting. Wear gloves when you mess with them. My wife will sit down with several of those peppers and for each bite she takes of her meal she bites off a piece of a pepper. 
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My Scorpion Peppers are thermonuclear fuck you hot. You grew Trinidad Scorpions? Where did you get the seeds? Vally View Farms, just north of Baltimore is the only place that has live plants in the United States. I'll be selling or swapping seeds this winter in the Garden forum/EE. Stay tuned. |
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My Scorpion Peppers are thermonuclear fuck you hot. You grew Trinidad Scorpions? Where did you get the seeds? CH, this guy lists 'em: Refining Fire Chiles That's where I got my Bhut jolokia and peri-peri seeds this year. Had some back-and-forth before we got the order exactly correct, but in the end he made good on it all. Was pretty happy with the seeds - germination rate was higher than I expected... probably 90% on the peri-peri's, maybe 70% on the jolokias. Plants are thriving despite if being a very tough gardening year in my neck of the woods. ETA: oops, thought I was replying to ColonelHurtz (CH), actually toaster.... |
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OMG!!!
Diced up what was left and mixed it with honey. Going to save that and use it for some wing sauce during the week. Also planning to lightly smoke some of the peppers, then dehydrate them, then grind into powder....like cipotle powder but with habanero instead....I'll use that for chili over the winter and also to make some dry rub for pork, chicken, etc. This is relevant to my interests. Care to tell more? |
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I grew a couple pepper plants from seeds my coworker brought back from South Korea. They got a slow start but seem to be doing decent. I will make sure they get a better start next year. When you bite into them they taste a little like your standard green pepper then they get pretty hot. I would say they are about 3/4 the heat of your standard Habanero but they seem to very significantly in hotness. |
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Red savina was the hottest pepper before they discovered the "ghost pepper". Those are serious stuff, +300,000 scoville I think. The ghost is well over a million scoville. for comparison, jalapenos range up to 13,000 scoville. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tRq8ExAHzk 
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How hard is it to grow peppers in general, not looking for super hot, but jalapeno's and those banana peppers? Some of the easiest garden plants of all, IMHO. Bugs don't like 'em much, and they aren't real picky about soil. Don't want to overwater them, and they like a nice sunny spot, but I bet you could grow them in MD. |
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How hard is it to grow peppers in general, not looking for super hot, but jalapeno's and those banana peppers? Some of the easiest garden plants of all, IMHO. Bugs don't like 'em much, and they aren't real picky about soil. Don't want to overwater them, and they like a nice sunny spot, but I bet you could grow them in MD. I'm in WV right now, was wondering if they can be grown indoors this late in the season? OR is there still growing time? |
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How hard is it to grow peppers in general, not looking for super hot, but jalapeno's and those banana peppers? Hot peppers are some hardy easy growing plants. All they need is hot sunny weather, a frost will kill them. I've grown Jalapenos, Habaneros, Thai, cherry, Chiltepin, Serrano and Scorpions in Baltimore or surrounding areas. Never had a problem with any of them. IM me if you want a Chiltepin plant. You can overwinter it indoors. The kind of weather we've been having lately is perfect for chilies. Peppers are long season plants, way too late to start them now in MO. I start mine under lights in early March. They can't go out until after last frost and won't really get going until June. But then you'll have peppers out the ass. |
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I eat canned jalapenos as a midnight snack. Habaneros are great in chili, but I'd never eat one raw. I grew some one year and made a big pot of chili. Put two peppers in it and it was inedible. So I made a whole other batch of chili with no heat at all in it and mixed the two. The shit still brought tears to my eyes. A lot of things influence the heat factor beyond the genetics. Some years you just get scorchers. |