Ghost chilies are scary.. PSA.

"Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh" (andymcbradleigh)
03/08/2014 at 00:29 • Filed to: Spicy

Just got some Bhut Jolokias and decided to make my (in)famous homemade hotsauce, I usually make it with Habaneros, Lemon drop (a yellow chili which actually tastes like lemon) and sometimes the odd jalapeno (and some onions and herbs and stuff).

I have eaten hot sauces based on Bhut Jolokias before, no big deal, but I've never dealt with fresh ones. I always use gloves when I slice habaneros tho' so I did the same this time.. YEAH.. Thing is, I should've worn a mask of sorts as well.. It felt like I'd been inhaling tear gas. Naturally my eyes start watering like a friggin' waterfall, and then it happens.. I FUCKING RUB MY LEFT EYE, STILL WEARING THE GLOVES. I thought I knew what pain was.. turns out I had no idea what true pain was.

It's now 12 hours later, the pain is gone, but vision is still blurry on my left eye.

So yeah, when dealing with Ghost Chilies.. make sure the room is well ventilated or wear a mask, and for the LOVE OF GOD don't rub your eyes.

To keep this car related, here's an orange Porsche

DISCUSSION (24)

ddavidn > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 00:33

Avoid putting your hands near your eyes, gloves or not, for like.... a month.

I have something called "ghost berry" jam. It's quite good.

JustWaitingForAMate > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 00:35

Kinja'd!!!

I've got a jar of this stuff, it's basically inedible. Trying to add it to curries and using 1/4 tsp, you still end up with a heap of heat.

Also have a bottle of this that I'm yet to crack, 1,463,700 Scoville Units.

Kinja'd!!!

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > ddavidn
03/08/2014 at 00:35

They are tasty, but damn.. I'll be wearing a full haz-mat suit the next time :P

Squid > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 00:35

I have yet to cook with them yet but your pain is well recorded for when I do.

On a related note, I was eating at my cousins house and he has a hot sauce collection and I was sampling some of them when our younger cousin comes in trying to act all bad ass, we give him a little tooth pick that was dipped in some sauce and he promptly plays the slight of hand move and wipes the sauce off the tip with his fingers and then forgets about doing that and wipes his eye. . . It was pretty funny, I felt bad for the little guy but it taught him a lesson on manning up and taking the burn.

excuse the poor story telling skills. I'm full of "cool story bro" stories. . .

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Squid
03/08/2014 at 00:38

I've been stupid enough around chilies and hot sauce many times, should've learned my lesson by now you'd think. I can eat some habaneros raw, but I'm NOT trying to be a bad ass and eat these ones raw I tell you that much.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > JustWaitingForAMate
03/08/2014 at 00:41

I've found out that my heat tolerance is somewhere in the area of 850,000 scoville units.. but I don't see the point in making my food that hot. but I love the taste of chilies. I've never tried those, don't think I can get them in Norway.

JustWaitingForAMate > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 00:46

They'll freight it to you.

ddavidn > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 01:01

Excellent idea.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > JustWaitingForAMate
03/08/2014 at 01:03

Do you know if it's made with just peppers? Or do they add extract to make it hot?

Alternator Fax > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 01:07

I can sympathize. I got some really hot peppers from a friend (not sure what they were, he grew them from some seeds he found, but they were definitely hotter than habaneros) and cut them up to make hot sauce. I did not wear gloves. I then took a piss. It took me almost two hours before I could walk again.

On the bright side, it was some damn good hot sauce.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Alternator Fax
03/08/2014 at 01:09

ouch... oooouch.. uhh.. I mean.. yeah.. ouch.

JustWaitingForAMate > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 01:14

From their site about the Scorpion Strike :

Trinidad Scorpion Chilli (58%), White Vinegar, Worcestershire sauce (Soya, Salt, citric acid to regulate acidity (330) Glucose, Vegetable Gum (415), Spices, Natural Colour (150d))

So it looks like the heat is coming completely from the chilli.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > JustWaitingForAMate
03/08/2014 at 01:17

Yeah, just found the site myself, ordered a few bottles :) Thanks for the tip.

Squid > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 01:27

You got to get your hands on some Trinidad Scorpion Butch T.'s . . . I had a friend that tried to get some of those to grow. They didn't take but he got his jalapeno, habenero, peter peppers and a bhut jalokia plant to grow. I haven't been around when the peppers were ripe for picking so I haven't had any of them yet, but I am tempted to grow some habaneros this spring.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Squid
03/08/2014 at 01:29

I'm growing my own habaneros and a whole other bunch of other chilies, I've saved some seeds from the Bhut Jolokia so I will try to make that grow :)

I also grow four types of tomatoes and some herbs.

Indoors though, I live in Norway :P

Team6.1 > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 02:08

Jealous. I've messed with the hot sauces, and I want the whole proverbial enchilada now. Also after habanero eye I can only fathom that pain. Let us know how it turned out!

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Team6.1
03/08/2014 at 02:12

How the sauce turned out? I forgot to mention that? Haha, sorry. It tastes awesome, but actually a bit on the hot side. It will mellow out somewhat over time, but I think I need to add some honey or something to it.

merkyg > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 05:18

I've been growing them for years now, definitely one you have to respect but they also taste amazing under the nuclear burn. That mix of smokey and citrus-y is great. Managed to grow some Infinitys last year that made the ghosts seem mild in comparison, but unfortunately the plant only produced about 3 chillies.... trying for some Carolina Reapers this year.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > merkyg
03/08/2014 at 05:26

That's the thing about peppers.. they taste sooo goood. People tell me "nah mate, they are just hot, can't taste a thing", but that's just bollocks. Some of them have the most amazing citrusy taste, some of them taste almost like bananas.

Carolina Reapers? Never heard of them, local strain?

merkyg > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 05:49

Yeah, they do initially just taste like fire but once the ability to taste them comes through the tolerance barrier there are some fantastic tasting chillies. The weird thing about the jolokias is they seem to burn totally different areas to things like habs.

Reaper info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_… (3 year growing time looks a little off though!) , they've busted through the 2m Scoville level, though there is some arguement about their world record status. I've yet to try the actual peppers - have some growing in the Aerogarden but they're taking their time. The Bubblegum 7 pot (legal disclaimer: thats '7 Pot' chillies, not an actual variety of pot) plant on the other hand is huge now, can't wait to try some of those as I've only tried 7 Pots in sauces.

GRawesome > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 07:42

I did that too once, ONCE! Now I wear ski goggles whenever prepping chiles...

crowmolly > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 09:03

Best thing about GC's and typical sauces made with them is that there's FLAVOR.

If you go to a food specialty store and look a the "wall of hot sauce" that they all have you'll see a lot of bottles that are nothing more than a chemical burn with a cute label. I've been gifted countless bottles of stuff over the years and the incidence of good flavor is very low.

Have you played around with Naga Vipers at all?

Manny05x > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 10:36

Where did you get the ghost chilie?

Team6.1 > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/08/2014 at 10:57

How do you bottle/store it? I've really been wanting to try making some lately.