Talk about a meteoric rise…to most Americans, two decades ago the ghost pepper was as invisible as its name. Now, thanks to a sky high Scoville rating that landed it a spot both in the Guinness Book of World Records and the weaponry division of the Indian military, this chili pepper is red hot. Read on to discover why the ghost pepper is burning it up at today’s best eateries.
Where did the ghost pepper, or bhut jolokia, originate? Sometime during its 16th century global trek, the chili pepper found a home in a remote area within the Assam region of northeastern India. The extreme temperatures, up to 130° F, of the region and its highly humid environment contribute to the escalating heat levels of ghost peppers, reports NBC News. In fact, the ghost pepper loses some of its pungency when it is grown outside of the particular climate of Nagaland and Assam. Used in local cooking for centuries ever after, it was also considered a cure for stomach troubles, and ironically, a way to cool off in the summer heat. For all its firepower, though, it was barely known in America, or anywhere else in the world.
The ghost pepper’s big moment came centuries later, at the dawn of the new millennium, when reports started to filter out of the Assam-based Defense Research Laboratory of the bhut jolokia’s heat – so hot the military planned to use them for hand grenades. Confirmation came in 2007 from New Mexico State University’s Chile Pepper Institute, where the seeds had been grown for six years, tested, and then re-tested by two independent labs. The results were astounding. At more than one million Scoville units, the scientific measurement for spiciness, it blazed into glory, anointed by Guinness as the world’s hottest pepper. In America, heat seekers lined up in droves to buy ghost pepper hot sauces - a single drop turning pasta sauces and Tex-Mex chili into fiery affairs. “An entire chili is an all-out assault on the senses, akin to swigging a cocktail of battery acid and glass shard,” warned NBC News.
Suddenly, it was everywhere, even a Ghost Pepper Spicy Sour Watermelon Candy, a deceptively sweet-looking candy, containing three to five granules of the dried pepper, and generous amounts of sugar to cut the heat. Urban Daddy.com described them as “looking like a Jolly Rancher, and tasting like a Hot Tamale turned up to 11. After a few seconds, your mouth will be alive with a long, lasting fire.”
Adventurous eaters rhapsodized over the intense heat, and the cult of the ghost pepper grew. A young Arizona Star writer gave this humorous, but accurate, account of his first taste of the legendary chili: “An eighth of a teaspoon sounds like nothing, but it is potent…I begin panting fast, then faster. It's hot enough to wring a single tear out of my left eye. I let the dry pepper reconstitute in hot water for about 10 minutes, and take a big bite…less than a minute into it, my eyes water and I can't speak in sentences. Again, one single tear. It is like a cloud of heat floating ominously in the back of my mouth. I continue to pant. Eventually my body settles down, but is wide awake. And still I want more.”
So we probably don’t need to tell you to use this culinary hottie sparingly and use citrus to cut the heat. Think of it as a sub for a habanero chili pepper, advises Specialty Produce, and feel free to pickle, spice up salsas, relishes and barbecue sauces, add to soups, and use in meat, seafood rubs and marinades. Try making a super hot Assam curry paste, a ghost chile & fresh wasabi Bloody Mary or Bhut Jolokia fish curry.
Still hot, just not hottest. The ghost pepper’s reign as the hottest chili pepper ended a few years ago, when the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion came on the scene, with a mean of more than 1.2 million Scoville units, and individual plants reaching more than 2 million units. But all records are meant to be broken, and in 2013, the Carolina Reaper took the crown from the Scorpion, with an average of 1.6 million Scoville units, and the hottest individual plant notching it up to an almost unimaginable 2.2 million units. Can things heat up even more? We don’t know, but just in case, be sure to have an ice cold pitcher of milk at hand when the next round of fire-eating favorites hits the markets.
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