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I like hot stuff, to a certain extent. I can’t tell you what my tolerance on the Scoville scale is or anything, but I’m usually down with some spice. My theory is that because I have no sense of smell, I like things with extreme tastes, whether that be extreme sour, extreme sweet, extreme bitter… you get the point. That being said, I know I can’t handle Habaneros other than a little sample, which means I definitely couldn’t deal with the #1 pepper on our list. Could you??
1. Naga Jolokia (or Bhut Jolokia) is about as hot as a pepper gets at 855,000 to 1,050,000 Scoville units (a scientific measure of how hot the pepper is). It’s not at the very top of the scale because that spot is reserved for pure capsaicin, the component in hot peppers that make them have that “burn.” At the time the pepper was tested for the Scoville scale, the Red Savina was the hottest pepper in the world, and the Bhut Jolokia was found to be nearly twice as hot as that. Yikes! It’s reported that just eating just one seed from this scorcher can make your mouth hurt for up to 30 minutes after you consume it. And you had better not get it in your eyes. Just a few weeks ago, an Indian woman set a new Guinness Record (we think… it hasn’t officially been recorded yet) by eating 51 of these things in a mere two minutes. No word on if her stomach lining survived or not.
2. The Red Savina was specifically grown to be a super-hot chili. Frank Garcia of GNS Spices in Walnut, California invented it (or bred it, I guess, would be more accurate), but people have been having trouble growing the Red Savina up to the level of hotness Garcia did, even when they have a certified Red Savina seed. Even so, you can find most Red Savinas somewhere between 350,000 and 580,000 on the Scoville.
3. Habaneros are as about as hot and I’ll go, and even then, I don’t enjoy them; I can just tolerate them. They’re believed to have originated in the Yucatan and have a bit of a citrus flavor to them. The Bhut Jolokia is often mistaken for a habanero, but you would know the difference as soon as you bit into one, I think – the habanero is only (only) 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville units.
4. The Datil pepper can be called a sweeter, fruitier version of the habanero. But just because it’s sweeter doesn’t mean it packs less punch – it can go up to 300,000 units on the Scoville just like the Habanero can. But it can also be milder, going all the way down to 100,000 units. You can find lots of Datil peppers in the St. Augustine, Florida, area.
5. The Rocoto (also locoto) pepper isn’t really found in the U.S. too much – it’s common in South American countries and used in their cooking quite a bit. And it’s so pretty! It can be a fairly mild pepper – 50,000 Scoville units, which is the equivalent of a really spicy Cayenne pepper, but they can take you by surprise at 250,000 units as well.
7. You know the Pequin pepper, but you may not realize it – it’s one of the main ingredients in the Cholula sauce you’ll often find at Mexican restaurants. It’s not too bad; comparable in heat to the Cayenne at 30,000 to 60,000 Scoville units. But the taste is much different – it’s supposed to have a smoky, nutty flavor.
8. The Cayenne pepper is a bit milder, rating at 30,000 to 50,000 Scoville units. They’re named after the French Guiana city of Cayenne. I’m sure you’re familiar with the Cayenne pepper; it’s ground and sold as a pretty common spice. Although it’s only halfway down on the scale, it’s definitely has some kick to it and is too hot for some people.
9. The Serrano pepper has just a little more kick than a Jalapeño – 10,000 to 20,000 Scoville units. Not bad at all. You can also put some Chipotle peppers in this category, which is really just a Jalapeño that has been dried and treated.
10. Finally, the little old Jalapeño. At 2,500 to 10,000 Scoville units, it’s pretty mild compared to the rest of these guys.
So what’s your limit?
Comments (25)
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Serranos are the secret ingredient in my salsa – a little more kick and flavor than jalapenos, but still mild enough to keep most people in the game.
reCaptcha – Dolphins fleshy
posted by Debi on 4-29-2009 at 3:36 pm
Jalapenos are too hot for me. My tongue is wimpy. But my (evil) friend one day bet me I couldn’t take one bite of a habanero. I earned the hundred bucks, but there are plenty of pictures of me drinking milk, tears streaming down my face, and beet red. And of course, we were in public…
posted by Katie on 4-29-2009 at 3:43 pm
I don’t know about just peppers, Even though i’ve eaten a Habanero I prefer to stick to the hot sauces. There is only 1 of those I’ve had that I couldn’t handle
(357 Mad Dog Collector’s edition). Now that was Insanely hot.
posted by Chris on 4-29-2009 at 4:14 pm
Serranos are among my favorite peppers. They’re just delicious. Clint’s Texas Salsa (Hot) is my favorite salsa, and it’s chock full of serranos. Delicious!
But I can handle Habaneros, just barely, and they feature prominently in my chili recipe. Anything much hotter than a Red Habanero, I think I’ll pass.
posted by Nathan Miller on 4-29-2009 at 4:18 pm
This is where I love my geographic tongue. Once I bite into anything hot my taste bubs go numb and I can’t taste a thing for about an hour. I have been in bar bets to see who could eat the most Habaneras and won many times. People think a girl can’t handle hot stuff. Of course I don’t tell them my secret. :)
posted by Jennifer on 4-29-2009 at 4:26 pm
I am particularly fond of Cayenne. I put a dash in about everything that I make. Some times I serve on the side fresh whole jalepenos for a little tingle on the tongue.
posted by QuincyK on 4-29-2009 at 4:27 pm
There is a restaurant in Chicago that has buffalo wings that uses some red savina’s in them and they are extremely hot. I did end up eating 4-5 of them, but i sure did pay for later on in the bathroom. When you order them, they give you a bell that you can ring if it gets too hot and they’ll bring out some milk, ice cream and other goodies that help ease the pain
posted by andy on 4-29-2009 at 4:28 pm
Now wait a minute…
I was recently watching Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel and he said the Ghost Chili was the hottest pepper in the world.
A little help?
posted by beth on 4-29-2009 at 4:44 pm
I once had a bottle of habanero extract, that came with 5 other bottles of hot sauce. the habanero was the last bottle left and being in my late teens early 20’s i use to get a kick out of making anyone who came to my house for the first time eat a cracker covered in the stuff. It was always a good laugh, sometimes someone would throw up, other times people would refuse then inadvernatly rub there eyes. It became a tradition and once you were in the club you apperciated it even more. Well one day that got tiresome and my friend and i decided to snort it. Worst idea ever, My friend and i were in so much pain, our eyes,nose,mouth and chest burned. The bottle final was laid to rest during game 7 of the 2004 alcs when the soxs game back and beat the yankee’s. My friends and i said CHEERS and jugged our beers, except my friends emptied half a bottle of the stuff into my beer and i chugged it. I knew right away looked at my friends said “I F-ing hate you” and fipped them off the whole time i was throwing up. About 15 minutes.
posted by dumb dan on 4-29-2009 at 4:54 pm
the ghost chili is the same thing as naga jolokia
posted by dumb dan on 4-29-2009 at 4:56 pm
According to Wikipedia, the Ghost Chili is another name for the Naga Jolokia.
I mistakenly planted some Carribean Red peppers in my garden this year. I found out later that they are twice as hot as a Habanero. I might regret that.
The hottest hot sauce I’ve ever had was Dave’s Insanity Sauce. It was terrible. Don’t try it, just walk away.
posted by Todd on 4-29-2009 at 4:57 pm
The Bhut Jolokia is the Ghost Chili.
posted by kevin on 4-29-2009 at 5:02 pm
The account I read of the woman eating all the ghost chilis said she wiped them in her eyes first. That lady is hardcore! She grew up with them, but I bet she also has something funky going on so they don’t affect her as much.
posted by Josh on 4-29-2009 at 5:23 pm
LOL @ Todd
I once covered a Firehouse sub in Dave’s Insanity Sauce… I shan’t forget that experience
LOVE LOVE LOVE the hot stuff!!!
posted by Goliath The Pickle on 4-29-2009 at 5:49 pm
No mention of The Merciless Pepper of Quetzlzacatenango, also known as the Guatemalan Insanity Pepper?
posted by RC on 4-29-2009 at 6:05 pm
I don’t know hat those little red peppers are in some chinese food, but those are just about all I can handle.
However, I was dared one night at work to try this hot sauce that one of my co-workers brought in. Apparently you can’t buy it in stores, it only sells online. I remember my co-worker saying that just one drop was recommended for a whole vat of chili. There was a small group of us that got up the nerve to try it (me being the only girl) and it was such intense pain that I dry heaved, gagged, and choked for a good 30 minutes, even with all the milk I could gulp down. The worst part though? The trip to the bathroom afterwards!! Talk about a whole new meaning to the phrase “ring of fire!”
All things considered, it was a terrible, horrible experience, but I’m glad I tried it. I just wish I could remember the name of the hot sauce!
posted by Cassie on 4-29-2009 at 10:27 pm
“The hottest hot sauce I’ve ever had was Dave’s Insanity Sauce. It was terrible. Don’t try it, just walk away. ” Todd that stuff is great as long as you don’t take too much of it. Super Bowl 39 I had a party with some of my marching band mates, and one of them decided to FILL (to the brim) a Tostito’s scoop with the sauce and eat it. He was hating life, but the rest of us were laughing our heads off for the next 20 minutes…
that being said the hottest pepper I’ve ever had was A Tabasco pepper right off the vine. My dad suggested I take a bite, thinking I’d bit just the tip off… no I ate the hole thing… I still remember that.
posted by GoF on 4-29-2009 at 10:55 pm
The OC (that’s for oleoresin capsaicin) or Pepper Spray that I carry on duty is rated at 5.3 MILLION Scoville Heat Units. It’s made by a company called Fox and comes in a little black can.
Prison inmates and knowledgeable street thugs call it “The Black Jesus” because when you get hit with it, you writhe around on the ground like a Southern Pentacostal yelling, “Oh Jesus! Oh Jesus!”
We have to get sprayed to carry the stuff (thankfully only once every five years) – remember that when you see the reports on TV – the cops know EXACTLY how that stuff feels when they use it. We put three of our own guys out of work for two days once.
posted by Eric on 4-29-2009 at 11:19 pm
I enjoy spicy stuff, but I don’t enjoy it when it gets so hot that you can’t taste the flavors going on in your chili or in your salsa. Chipotle and serranos are about as high as I go. I know. I’m a wimp.
posted by Kieran on 4-30-2009 at 8:46 am
My dad and I love to grow peppers in our summer garden. One year we found some cherry pepper plants and decided to plant them. Cherry peppers are supposed to be mild, but these suckers sure weren’t. With the first one that ripened, I took a tiny little bite. It was sweet but had no heat. Then I popped the rest of it in my mouth. It about knocked me on the floor! It was hotter than our jalapenos and our hungarian wax peppers put together. Made for some killer salsa, lol.
posted by danidarkheart on 4-30-2009 at 9:55 am
danidarkheart
One thing to remember is that pepper plants cross-pollinate, so one spring’s mild pepper plants can be super-hot the next spring if they’re grown near other, hotter pepper plants.
I love spicy foods and hot peppers, and I regularly grow jalapenos, tabascos, serranos, and habaneros.
I’m also a huge fan of hot sauces, but I have a big complaint about most of the sauces that promote their heat, like Dave’s Insanity Sauce. Hot sauces, like any condiment, should be used to enhance and complement the dish. Hot sauces made strictly to be “the hottest” have little to no flavor and add nothing to, say, a salsa except a burning tongue. A fresh habanero, on the other hand, while very spicy, has a fruity undertone hiding behind the heat that adds another level of flavor to a dish.
Fresh peppers are always a plus. If you don’t believe me, I’ll make you a batch of my mango/serrano salsa. It’s delicious with grilled tuna.
posted by 8rustystaples on 4-30-2009 at 10:35 am
My grandfather was always for the spicier things in life. A vivid memory I have is of him standing over the kitchen sink eating a sandwich that consisted of bread, mayonnaise, jalapenos, and habaneros. On a dare once I tried it. One of the worst decisions I have ever made in my life. Very interesting post, I have always been mesmerized by peppers…….
posted by Alexandra on 4-30-2009 at 10:41 am
I’m a fan of the hot stuff as well.
One summer I trained myself on Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin’ Sauce. The first couple weeks it was a bit rough, but by the end, I was taking them down like nothing. I actually complained that they seemed to have weakened the sauce. One of my friends said he’d check, so he tried one and instantly teared up. I realized I had just overcome them.
But then, a couple months later I was in Madison for Halloween, and as was tradition at the time, the night ended with the police shooting plumes of pepper spray down State Street. Only after inhaling a whiff of that did I get the same burning sensation as the first week at Buffalo Wilds Wings. And let me tell you, it was glorious.
posted by Kevin on 4-30-2009 at 2:22 pm
I grew up in Asia so, eating peppers (or as we call it, chilli) is a norm in my culture and I love them. The hotter the pepper the better. My current level is the Thai Pepper aka bird’s eye pepper. It has a Scoville rating of 50,000 – 100,000, which is one level lower than the famed habanero. I’ve yet to try the habanero but would love to try it one day!
posted by katherine on 5-3-2009 at 2:14 pm
I’ve tried a little bit of a Naga Jolokia and I can confirm it is the hottest tasting thing on this planet. You said a single seed will make your mouth burn for 30 minutes, lol, I can tell you it lasts a lot longer than that. How on earth that woman ate 51 is pretty unbelievable to be honest, personally I think it would kill you.
posted by Carliona Trocina on 5-24-2009 at 5:14 am