Damn, that's impressive. You have to be a soldier to eat a ghost chili. I've been wanting to try one for a while now, but I'm too chicken.
Hah, I'm not quite up to eating an actual ghost chili all on its own... yet. I just use the powder mix to give these store-bought, roasted habanero almonds some added oomph. This reminds me: a company called Lucas Jerky has the most amazing habanero jerky I've tried. I haven't had any in a year or so (it's a tad expensive to ship overseas), but I'm working up the courage to try their naga jolokia flavor one day. Anyway, with a "healthy" addiction to hot foods, heat tolerance will go up pretty quick. My criterion is that a hot dish should make your nose run after the 3rd bite. I have no idea what it is about hot foods that some people like, because it is a form of pain, but what can you do, man is a strange animal...
The danger with chili is that it can become a 'must' for people who love it, much like people become accustomed to too much salt or sugar. I personally know people who can't appreciate delicately-flavoured food any more, because they must have spices and hot chilies in everything they eat. I'd be cautious about requiring chili in every dish, or eating too much of it. It'll ruin your enjoyment of other foods. As for seeking out and eating the hottest chilies in the universe...why? What's the point of that? Seems macho and silly to me ...but I'm prepared to be enlightened...
[MENTION=53329]T.Trian[/MENTION]: I hear ya I used to adore chilli and hot food, but since I quit smoking and started taking asthma medication (inhalers) my tongue has become incredibly sensitive to any perceived chilli insult. I can't even bear a bird's eye chilli anymore, let alone something worse. Last time I ordered Indian food, I ordered tikka masala
I grew up eating a lot of red meat, pizza, burgers etc. (and was still underweight so there, it's not just the food that can make you fat. In fact everyone in my family was skinny), but now I've grown to really like vegeterian foods, maybe because I never got to eat like that before. Going to the fruit & veggies isle is like visiting the candy isle; all the colors, new tastes, strange fruit... My husband's family are all vegeterians, so I also get to taste new foods whenever I visit them, which is awesome. I don't say no to steak, burgers or pizza though, it just has to be of quality and preferably home-made or barbequed. Fast food is a big no-no to me; it doesn't taste like anything really. Yeah, it's cheap, but with the same money you can get ingredients for some pretty good homemade grub too.
I'll give it a shot. For most hot-heads, it's not about being macho. It's about enjoying certain flavors and certain sensations. Some love the acidy taste of cirtrus, some can't stand it. Some hate the way their bodies feel under heavy exercise while some love the burn in their muscles during a 400m sprint. Some downright fear hights while others relish the feeling in their gut when they bungee jump. And, of course, absolutely everything can be taken to an unhealthy excess, even moderation. Naturally the same applies to fiery foods as well; too much of anything is too much for anyone. But dismissing a certain type of food (in this case, hot), or even people who enjoy that type of food as silly and pretentious (macho), just comes off as narrow-sighted. I will never understand why anyone would ever want to voluntarily play golf, but who am I to say golfers are just elitist pricks who dress stupid and waste natural resources? You don't even necessarily need to understand why some people enjoy / dislike some things (that don't harm or bother others), just accept / tolerate the fact that they do. I, for one, still enjoy mild flavors as well. I don't stuff peppers into my vanilla ice cream, but I do love a good curry every now and then. Did you know that hot foods, if consumed with due moderation, are actually good for your health? They increase your metabolism and blood circulation, among other things, and, well, they also clear your sinuses. ETA: [MENTION=35110]jazzabel[/MENTION], I feel your pain. A few years back I had to take painkillers that altered my sense of taste and it took over a year after I quit them before I could enjoy some of my favorite foods again. That sucked.
I hope I didn't give the impression (well, I obviously did!) that I don't like chilies and won't eat them. In fact, I do lots of cooking with a variety of chilies, and currently have fresh jalapenos, bird's-eye, and Kenyan in my fridge, and two unnamed varieties my husband is growing in his greenhouse. That's in addition to an open jarful of pickled jalapenos, a jar of chipolte paste, plus a container full of dried Habaneros, Poblanos, Cascabels, Guajillos and Chipoltes in the cupboard. And that's not counting the couple of dried packets in there that have lost their labels. So you see I do love chilies, and use them in my cooking. I cook Mexican, Thai and Indian a lot, all of which require chilies. Even some Italian dishes call for chili. However, I stick by my original statement, that REQUIRING chilies in every dish can ruin your palate for other things. I'm also not entirely convinced that there isn't a modicum of macho in people who seek out and eat (then brag about eating) the 'world's hottest chili.' If that kind of person simply loves them, fine. But that kind of person is not likely to boast about eating them, either.
@<a href="https://www.writingforums.org/member.php?u=53329" target="_blank">T.Trian</a> and jannert: Every time conversation turns to chilli, it reminds me of this Simpsons episode. He ends up tripping in the desert afterwards
I didn't contradict the statement about how requiring chilies in every dish could ruin lots of things (can you imagine your morning cereal with habaneros?), I just commented on the other parts of your post. I also know there is a larger or smaller culture of machismo attached to almost everything a man can do, but guess what? Yes, there are machos, i.e. guys who boast this and that, but in truth are just full of hot air, and then there are people who truly do happen to like things usually considered manly: hot foods, guns, combat sports, weight lifting, heavy music, and so forth, all of which I love. However, I have my less manly side too: I adore literature, poetry, writing, equestrianism, classical guitar, drawing, animals, intellectually stimulating conversations, cuddling, and many other such things (I refuse to say "girly things" because it's about time we stop stigmatizing girls with "soft" things: girls kick ass!). And I'm not ashamed to confess enjoying any of the things on either list, btw. Oh, I've also been told I have effeminate facial features to boot... I'm not sure why it appears like you have a hard time believing anyone could actually like ghost chilies, but I honestly do like nagas. And of course I also like to boast about eating them (or, rather, a powder mix which is about 50% naga). But that's just a part of my nature as a romantic. [MENTION=35110]jazzabel[/MENTION], what a great episode. "Let him go, Ralph. He knows what he's doing."
Пожалуйста. But you're not convinced that it's actually possible to like the heat / taste of nagas? You make them sound like the holy grail of chilies! Then again, 'ghost chili' does sound pretty badass... Btw, another food I've discovered fairly recently: skyr. Especially blueberry, banana, and vanilla flavors. Lots of protein, low carb, low fat (well, the blueberry isn't that low carb, but it tastes like blue heaven), and imho the texture as well as the flavor beats yoghurt and curd. This is a good example of a fairly mildly flavored food that, I would imagine, does not go well with chili.
My favorite food to eat is pizza I love pizza I could eat it 3 times a day that is how much I love it.
@T.Trian - If you want the hottest you can get: Puree some habaneros (or whatever the hottest pepper you can obtain in your neck of the woods) in alcohol in a glass beaker. Boil alcohol on electric hot plate; no open flame for obvious reason. When alcohol reduces a waxy residue will be left behind. This is pure capsaicin; 15-16 million on Scoville scale. DO NOT TOUCH IT WITH YOUR BARE HANDS. IT WILL BLISTER SKIN!!!!!! Now you can make the spiciest omelet ever.
Or you can buy capsaicin extracts that are nearly that concentrated. But why bother? There's no flavor to it, only pain. I like very spicy condiments as much as the next guy. And the next guy is my son, who has actually tried fresh ghost pepper and concluded it was ridiculously hot, and didn't offer anything in the way of flavor. My son comes by his love of spicy foods honestly. When he was about five months old, I was in the habit of snacking on homemade queso dip (made with Scotch Bonnet peppers) in the evening. He kept crawling over to me, pointing at the dip with his mouth open, saying, "Uh! Uh!" No matter how many times I told him he didn't really want it, he kept on asking. So I put the tiniest smear on the tip of one finger, and let him taste it, to convince him he didn't want it. Well, he tried it, smacked his lips, and smiled, and asked even more insistently from then on. I had to give up on my evening snack until he was old enough to ask for it with words, because his other didn't believe he really liked it. He turns thirty next year, and loves fire eating more than ever.
This makes me wonder: could the powder form then be, well, less hot? Because in all honesty, yeah, it makes my nose leak and mouth water (and not from hunger either) worse than the DR Nitro (which did have capsaicin extract in it as one ingredient), but it's not that hot; you can actually taste a flavor (imo noticeably closer to your ordinary red bell pepper, esp. powdered bell pepper, than to a fruity habanero) amidst all the heat. The problem with savoring that flavor just is that the heat hits you pretty much immediately whereas with the Nitro you had about a dozen seconds before the flames would come (and they were softer too although almost as hot). Edit: had to try the flavor again and somehow I managed to get a bit of the powder in my eye. Wow! This stuff would be awesome as a less lethal self-defense tool. Off to rinse now...
It must be something to do with tastebuds and sensitivity. All my Australian cattle dogs simply harass for the hottest chilli, Indian,Thai, whatever takeaway we have. When they smell it they go mad, and when they get a tiny morsel as a reward, the heat doesn't hurt them at all, as if they drank milk. So weird
[MENTION=35110]jazzabel[/MENTION], I'm sure you're right. And there's bound to be lots of variety from person to person because although it appears most people feel equal amounts of pain, the levels of how much they can tolerate varies greatly (also depending on the type of pain: some handle some kinds of pain better than others).
Interesting thing about pain, ginger haired people have been shown to feel more pain and need up to 20% (or even 30%) more anaesthetic during medical and dental procedures than others. So it all varies greatly, but we might not know a lot about it all yet Although us married to gingers probably suspected it all along
Heh, the Mythbusters had an episode about that actually, gingers & pain vs. non-gingers & pain, but if I recall correctly, their data went against the findings you mentioned, so there's a ton of individual variety. However, their methods aren't always all that scientific, e.g. according to my memory, they had far too few participants in the tests in that episode for their conclusions / research to count as scientific.
Really? Cool! I love 'Mythbusters', but like you said, their methods aren't always scientific. It's well recognised in anaesthesia and dentistry, although pain medication is always titrated carefully anyway, and the dosage depends on a lot of things, such as weight, muscle mass, temperature, liver and kidney function, age etc.
When it comes to cheeseburgers, I like the cheap hamburger buns I get at the grocery store, as opposed to the more expensive buns. I like the taste of the cheap buns better. I also like cheap hamburg patties better. How about you?
I got some Ghost Pepper salsa from the Jerome Ghost Pepper Company (I bought it in Sedona, AZ). It is all-natural and made with jalapenos, habaneros, and of course ghost peppers. But they did a nice job with it - it is quite hot, but has good flavor. So if you like both, it's not a bad choice. The story also sold some of those products that are all about burning you with no concern for flavor, but I don't like those either.