“It was a big hit and it’s just delicious,” Bates said. Up until last month when supply ceased for the season, Bates said Lawrence’s most powerful salsa met an equally-strong reception. Co-owner Simon Bates introduced the pepper, supplied from a Eudora farm, into one of the restaurant’s salsas. “Any longer than that it becomes special reserve stuff,” he said with a laugh.ĭiners at Esquina, 801 Mass, may have had a ghost chile encounter when visiting in the summer and fall months.
He then crushes the peppers and lets them soak for a minimum of one month and no longer than three months. He’s quick to add that his technique is more theory than science.īrann said his bhut jolokia-infused vodka has few frills.
He added a few stones for moisture control and has been resting the pot on a radiator near large windows producing ample sunlight. “It’s a pretty hardy little plant, I figured that much out,” he said.īrann uses one-fourth part cactus soil and three-fourths standard potting soil. He said since the cold weather arrived and he moved the plant indoors, its been the hardest of his numerous plants to keep alive. The bhut jolokia? It’s been recorded as high as 1,041,427 Scoville units, or about a fifth the potency of police-grade pepper spray.īrann harvested seven chilies from a plant given to him from a friend. Original Tabasco is between 7,000 to 8,000 and the habanero (once the hottest known chili) notches between 350,000 to 577,000 units. A jalapeno is between 2,500 and 5,000 units.
The spiciness of peppers is measured in Scoville units which indicate how much capiscum, the chemical compound responsible for the heat, is present in a pepper. “It’s haat,” Brann said of the chili, eschewing the generic “hot” long reserved for Tabasco sauce.
In Lawrence, Vermont Street BBQ owner Chris Brann has been soaking the chilies in vodka to add heat to his smoked Bloody Marys and crank the volume on his homemade pickles up to 11. It’s also been deemed “fit for use” by the Indian military for pepper grenades designed to smoke out terrorists. The pepper has made its way into a myriad of sauces with skulls and “death” slapped on their labels. When it became known just how hot it was, chili-heads worldwide took notice. Originating in northeast India, the pepper was an apparition before 2000 to all but those who grew it and dined on it to ease, of all things, stomach ills and extreme heat. And though a chili in England was recorded as spicier last month, the bhut jolokia has been enjoying a storied rise. The Guinness Book of World Records agreed when it crowned the bhut jolokia the world’s hottest pepper in 2007. “Habaneros are ‘meh’ to me now,” Cofer said. Last summer Cofer grew 40 pounds of the peppers, which in the last year have popped up on grocery store shelves, in wicked salsas and, soon, in what promises to be the city’s Bloodiest Mary. If jalapenos pop, the bhut jolokia explodes.Įrik Cofer, assistant produce manager at Checker’s Foods, 2300 Louisiana, said when tasted, the pepper first hits the back of the throat before running its numbing heat down the tongue.
Let chill and add water for desired consistency.Įven before dehydration, the bhut jolokia - or ghost chili - is savagely red when mature and contorts itself as if to show would-be diners its plans for their tongues. Esquina’s Ghost Pepper Salsa Recipe as told to Stephen Montemayor by Simon Bates, co-owner of Esquina.Ģ5 bhut jolokia (ghost chili) peppers 1/4 cup toasted cuminĬook ingredients chilies, cumin, tequila, lime juice, tomatillos, garlic and onion down and blend with garlic oil and sea salt.