the enchiladas and ice cream I had too much of for dinner. owww!
Two years ago I called the NM Chile Connection to place an order for New Mexico red chile and asked them to send us 3 lbs of the hottest batch of dry red chile pods they had, never realizing that their hottest would be like eating Thai peppers. Ouch! Thai peppers are in the middle of the Scoville unit scale I love hot chili but this stuff was scorching.
To put the “hotness” into perspective, the scale ranges from 0- 160,0000 units. The Sweet pepper is rated 0, the Anaheim pepper is rated between 500 - 2,500 Scoville units and a Jalapeño is rated between 2,500 - 5,000. Jalapeño peppers are not hot to me, probably because I’ve built up a tolerance to them. A Thai pepper is between 50,000 - 100,000, that’s HOT!! My guy, who has also built up a tolerance to chili, ate a Thai pepper once and after the first bite he turned bright red and had to excuse himself.
After our first experience with this particular chile, I learned that I had to cut it with other chile pods that I can buy in our local stores here in California. (That sounds like I’m making up batches of some illegal drug, doesn’t it?) Our local store carry dry chili pods that have flavor but no heat so it tames the heat of the first batch. Anyway, the point I wanted to make when I started this post was that I make this chile regularly but it took us two years to eat 3 lbs of it.
According to Chilliworld.com there is a reason why we go on eating chili even though it "burns" the tongue. When nerve cells release substance P, the body produces chemicals called endorphins - and these act on brain cells in the same way that opium-derived drug morphine does. As a result, you feel good.”
I think it time to order some more.
I have to give kudos to my guy for making some of THE BEST strawberry ice cream I have ever had. It was to die for. And the best thing you can eat after having hot chili. It cuts the burn.
OK now you know more than you ever cared to about red chili.
Hi, Linda! Good luck ordering your next batch! Maybe someplace a little lower on the heat scale? If it ever gets tooooooo hot, remember you can cut the heat with lemon or lime juice. It's saved me more than once! :-)
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