A pepper tasting! You might not like this chocolate...

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pepperhead212

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A friend's 17 year old kid, who likes hot foods more than anyone else in their family, wanted to grow some peppers at their new location, and wanted to grow Carolina Reapers, so I told him that if he got the seeds, I'd start them with all my seeds in spring, but he could grow it - once was enough for me! lol He got the Chocolate Carolina Reaper, because he read somewhere that it was hotter than the regular. Today, I got a call from him, and he finally got the first fully ripe pepper on it!
Chocolate Reaper - taste tested 9-27. Not as hot as the Red Reaper a couple of years ago. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

He cut it down the middle, and I took the one with two veins, and gave him the one vein. Mind you, this kid had not even tried a half of one of my habaneros before - just small pieces of them! But here he was sampling a reaper, just to tell his friends he had done it, I assume.

I told him to spit it out, no matter what - I had told him stories of us getting people to eat red savinas, who didn't do this, because they got one that didn't hit them "right away", and they paid the price! He said I didn't have to convince him!

After I started chewing it, I knew it wasn't as hot as the Red Reaper I grew a few years ago. He chewed his for 18 seconds, and I made it to 40 seconds, before I had to spit it, and douse my mouth, which, as he found out, doesn't really help much - it's only the cold that helps, but it warms up fast! And he had a glass of tea for us, to bring back the heat, which I had taught him is a trick to pull on people - when they keep dousing their mouth with iced tea, it takes a lot longer for the heat to leave, due to chemicals in the tea! So I got this kid hooked on peppers, which is a good thing!

My testing method for the heat is not scientific, but it gives me a fair idea of the relative heat of the varieties. That Red Reaper I grew a couple of years ago was immediately the hottest I had ever had in my mouth, and I could barely make it to 18 seconds, while with ghost peppers and Trinidad scorpions made it to 38 seconds with several of them. I could have chewed this a little longer. The flavor was actually better than other superhots, with more of the so called habanero flavor - I'm thinking it is a cross of a chocolate hab and a reaper, then stabilized, for the color, but not nearly all the heat of the red reaper - none have that signature pointed tip, either. Either way, I'll stick with the Chocolate habaneros - as with all superhots, still to much heat in this, to use enough in a dish to get enough flavor, and still be edible, even for me!

He said this was definitely the hottest thing he had ever tried, by far. I'll bet he wants to try the red reaper next year...

One Superchili plant that I gave him, back in May, was larger and more productive than my two plants, so I told him he's doing something right, and to keep doing it!
 
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When I am trying to compare peppers, I usually chop up some and mix it into some cream cheese and spread it on crackers or Wasa crisp rye bread.

I have found that lemonade, biting a slice of lemon, or a shandy (lemonade and beer) are pretty good at taming the burn from peppers. Doesn't water just spread the pain?
 
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When I am trying to compare peppers, I usually chop up some and mix it into some cream cheese and spread it on crackers or Wasa crisp rye bread.

I have found that lemonade, biting a slice of lemon, or a shandy (lemonade and beer) are pretty good at taming the burn from peppers. Doesn't water just spread the pain?
It does, because capsaicin is fat-soluble, not water-soluble. So eating or drinking some kind of dairy will reduce the pain - eventually [emoji16]

The first time we grew hot peppers, I cut them up without gloves on. My hands burned so much I called my doctor's office. The doctor on call suggested wiping my hands with something creamy. I had Noxzema skin cleaner at the time and it worked perfectly.
 
I rub vinegar on my hands to negate the heat. The acid in the vinegar neutralizes the base in the pepper. Then I wash with soap and water. That seems to work.
 
I keep Goop at my sink at all times, to clean pepper oils off. This is one of the hand cleaners used by auto workers, to remove grease, so it is my go to cleaner for cleaning after handling peppers. Also leaves a pleasant orange smell on the hands.
 
To keep my wife from eating all the big peppers in the garden, I gave her her own large pot which has red, yellow and orange sweet peppers ( those mini ones you buy all packaged up). Anyway, someone must have pulled a switchie at the garden store, cause she took a full bite of , what she thought was, a red sweet pepper, and it turned out to be a jalapeño or something of the sort. She hates spicy, and needless to say, she thinks I did it one purpose . I really didnt , but I wish I was smart enough to have thought of it :) . It turns out that the red pepper plant must have had 2 plants in its cell, cause I see two stalks branching up from the soil. I marked the hot one so we dont run into that problem again.
 

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