Mexican here. I find it amusing that people focus on how spicy their peppers are. They are missing the point. There are many pepper varieties and each has a different flavor. That is the interesting part and how it mixes with different foods in a variety of recipes. Focus on the flavor, not the burn.
Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?
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Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?
#12Ghost peppers are the hottest peppers I've ever dared to eat directly. They are so far beyond hot that I don't even feel a burning sensation - more like pure, unadulterated pain like you'd expect from having a nail driven through your tongue. I really don't like the flavor of them either so there isn't really much motivation for me to ever eat one again. They are really great in small quantities for spicing up dishes without altering the flavor of the dish in question though.
Habanero peppers on the other hand - have a wonderfully fruity flavor. I wish I had a bit more stamina with regards to eating them. :(
Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?
#13Short answer: yes
Longer answer: yes, and it can wreck you
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/10/18/ghost-pepper-p...
Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?
#14Ghost peppers are the hottest peppers I've ever dared to eat directly. They are so far beyond hot that I don't even feel a burning sensation - more like pure, unadulterated pain like you'd expect from having a nail driven through your tongue. I really don't like the flavor of them either so there isn't really much motivation for me to ever eat one again. They are really great in small quantities for spicing up dishes…
I cook with habs. The fumes are enough and I scrub after. But one hab in a jambalaya is quite tasty.
Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?
#15Mexican here. I find it amusing that people focus on how spicy their peppers are. They are missing the point. There are many pepper varieties and each has a different flavor. That is the interesting part and how it mixes with different foods in a variety of recipes. Focus on the flavor, not the burn.
The burn is an important part of the pepper experience. For some, building a tolerance to capsaicin is a hobby. They're not missing the point, they're just eating them for a different reason.
And what's nice about building up an extreme tolerance to capsaicin is that afterwards you are able to better experience the flavor of peppers, without focusing entirely on the heat.
Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?
#16Mexican here. I find it amusing that people focus on how spicy their peppers are. They are missing the point. There are many pepper varieties and each has a different flavor. That is the interesting part and how it mixes with different foods in a variety of recipes. Focus on the flavor, not the burn.
That's because for us mortals, the flavor is completely overpowered by the capsaicin in most cases. I have relatively low capsaicin tolerance, and so I can't tell the difference between flavors of two different but equally spicy peppers because my brain is too occupied with the burn. It's hard not to focus on it.
Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?
#17Anecdote allowed?
This reminds me of the Habanero Burger at "The Swinging Door" pub (I'm not sure it had the same name when I went there occasionally over 10 years ago, the first time actually almost 20 years ago in 1997) in San Mateo, CA [0]. (EDIT: It was the Prince of Wales pub previously! Lots of Habanero Burger stories: [1])
They had a "Wall of Flame" with stickers from all people who "survived" eating one. You had to sign a release form before you got your burger (shown in [1]). As another ex-colleague of mine used to say: Good spicy food hurts twice...
I only ever ate one tiny piece off a colleague's plate. Initially I thought "I feel nothing, what's the big deal?" I then spent a good part of the next half hour with my tongue hung out under flowing water from the faucet in the bathroom.
The people I saw try it either ate very fast, to be finished before the full pain set in, or very, very slowly. Except for an Indian friend of mine, who seemed pretty unmoved and ate the whole burger normally.
By the way, I don't remember the day of the week, but I always went there when the "Silicon Gulch Jazz Band" was playing [2][3]. Back then the (good) singer, an old guy (like all others in that band), played a washboard, really cool. The music was really good (the singing too) :-)
[0] http://theswingindoor.com/habanero-burger-xxx/
[1] https://www.yelp.com/biz/prince-of-wales-pub-san-mateo
Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?
#18Mexican here. I find it amusing that people focus on how spicy their peppers are. They are missing the point. There are many pepper varieties and each has a different flavor. That is the interesting part and how it mixes with different foods in a variety of recipes. Focus on the flavor, not the burn.
That's because for us mortals, the flavor is completely overpowered by the capsaicin in most cases. I have relatively low capsaicin tolerance, and so I can't tell the difference between flavors of two different but equally spicy peppers because my brain is too occupied with the burn. It's hard not to focus on it.
:) You will notice that Mexican food is frequently accompanied by a variety of sauces and/or peppers. So you can try them and make the decision on which you want and how much you want and maximize the enjoyment. It is gotta be hot but not too much that you stop enjoying the food. That is how children learn.
Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?
#19Ghost peppers are the hottest peppers I've ever dared to eat directly. They are so far beyond hot that I don't even feel a burning sensation - more like pure, unadulterated pain like you'd expect from having a nail driven through your tongue. I really don't like the flavor of them either so there isn't really much motivation for me to ever eat one again. They are really great in small quantities for spicing up dishes…
It wasn't a ghost pepper, but I once at a small green pepper that was so hot that my tastebuds kind of short circuited, and all I could taste was roses. After a few seconds of that, stye came back online with the excruciating burn of a very hot pepper, but for about 3 seconds, I could have sworn I had eaten a rose.
Re: Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?
#20I'd be interested to see how someone would fare by chewing on some synsepalum dulcificum aka miracle fruit [1] followed by a Ghost pepper. In theory, it should be able to block out most of the TRPV1 heat receptors as well. If only I did my thesis on this.