Thai Birdseye Chilies

[JustKay]

I have ordered the African Piri Piri for the first time this year among some other old favorites.

These are good. And hot. Goes well with lots of garlic.

We have a chicken joint from South Africa called Nando's Chicken and they use only peri-peri chillies in their sauces. They also sell the sauces. Very good.

Here's a link to their website and some tips on peri-peri chillies.

Nando's Chicken

Edited May 20, 2004 by kew (log)

[nessa]

I'm confused? What really IS the hottest proven pepper in the world?

According to this Scoville chart, measured by HPLC, the only birds eye pepper that comes close to the habanero (regular not Savina) is the African Birds Eye.

The Thai prik khee nu, which I think is the thai birdseye is not as hot. At least in scoville units. Also, the Fransisca Habanero is said to contend with the Savina.

Now, there was also a claim in 2000 that an Indian chile from Assam ((Naga Jolokia (capsicum frutescens)) was twice as hot as the savina. So far that claim has not been proven I don't think.

http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/pepper/...5348029538.html

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/

Still has the Savina listed as the hottest. Does anyone have a copy of the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records?

So whats up? And what do you go by? Scoville units, scientifically proven?

Or the number of blisters the pepper raises on your lips?

I'm actually serious, I'd really like to know which variety is the proven hottest.

[jhlurie]

That's one reason I was so disappointed in my Habaneros last year. They had a nice fruity flavor, but not the heat that I'd expected. I really wanted to make a Habanero/mango ice cream.

Chad, there's a bucket-load of Habanero varieties, and the "heat" on them (as well as the other flavor "notes") vary quite widely. Our old buddy Jason, the same year he grew those almost unusable Savinas, also grew Chocolate Habaneros, and I recall thinking they were quite mild.

[pjs]

Somewhat off-topic but also somewhat on:

I was relentlessly pestering the owner of my local Asian grocery for chili bean paste last week so I could cook something Szechuan and authentic. After much miscommunication due to my lack of Asian language skills he grugingly retrieved a small jar from behind the counter--a jar he did not display on his shelves.

Lan Chi Brand. (I think it is Taiwanese)

Chili Paste with Garlic.

It is hot. It is oily. It is tasty. It is a perfect substitute for chili bean paste IMHO.

PJ

PS Post-purchase I noticed that Bruce Cost recommends the stuff in his Big Bowl book which I bought last week.

[Jason Perlow]

This year I'm going to try my hand at Red Savinas

I can assure you, you don't want to do this. I successfully grew some of these a few summers ago, and well, lets just say, they aren't really usable in food.

I ended up putting mine in the food drier and grinding it into chile powder... and mixing it with WEAKER chiles. Stuff is way, way, way too hot.

Jason, thanks for the heads up. I'm not one of those "I've eaten chiles so hot that I pissed blood for a week and went blind in my left eye" macho chest beating types. It's just that I was very disappointed in my orange Habaneros last year. Kansas may not be offer the right growing conditions. Mine were pretty weak. Weak enough that I could pop half a chile in my mouth and chew it up -- NOT something you're supposed to be able to do with any Habanero, though the fruity flavor was quite nice. I was hoping that by going with the Red Savina I might get close to what a Habanero is supposed to be.

And =Mark='s Habanero ice cream is calling to me.

Chad

You may have been watering them too much.

Chiles make more capsaicin when the plants are stressed -- and they like the weather VERY hot. You want to water them no more than once a day -- having a sprinkler system or better yet, a drip irrigator that goes off for a half hour in the morning is what you need. On EXTREMELY parched, hot days, you want to water them twice, but you really shouldnt do this that often. Its okay if the plants get a little on the wilty side by the end of the day, especially when they start bearing fruit.

Orange habaneros can be very hot if you grow them in this manner. I've also grown Chocolate Habaneros and they can be pretty damn hot as well. Basically anything in the Chianese family that the habenero comes from is going to blow your head off if you grow it under the right conditions.

However the savina -- I can assure you, they don't work well with food.