Archive for the 'Chiles' Category
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
This Year’s Chiles
Are ready and are being picked.
Many say the best chiles in the world come from Hatch.
Don’t believe it. The best chiles come from Mesilla.
Tags: Chiles, Chile Rellenos, Peppers
Monday, September 29th, 2008
Man Killed by Chilli
“An aspiring chef died after eating a super-hot chilli sauce as part of an endurance competition with a friend.”
“Andrew Lee, 33, challenged his girlfriend’s brother to a contest to see who could eat the spiciest sauce that he could create.”
“The fork-lift truck driver, who wanted to cook for a living, prepared a tomato sauce made with red chillies grown on his father’s allotment. After eating it, however, he suffered intense discomfort and itching. The following morning he was found dead, possibly after suffering a heart attack.”
“He apparently got into bed at 2.30am and started scratching all over. His girlfriend scratched his back until he fell asleep. She woke up and he had gone. It is incredible. Who would have thought he could have died from eating chilli sauce? We don’t know of anything else that could have caused his death. The postmortem showed no heart problems.”
Source: The Times Online, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28th, 2008
Chiles Being Picked
The chiles are being picked now, which is done by hand for most varieties. These photos were taken while other parts of the field were being harvested.
Tags: Chiles, Chile Rellenos, Peppers
Tuesday, February 27th, 2007
Mount Bhut Jolokia
Just as soon as Bhut Jolokia is identified as the hottest chile in the world, someone steps forth to conquer it.
Guwahati, India – A woman from India’s north eastern state of Assam is hoping to set a world record by eating a maximum amount of chilies in the least time. If successful, Anandita Dutta Tamuly will also be the world’s first person to eat a massive quantity of the world’s hottest peppers.
Tamuly is extremely confident of besting the pepper, because she’s an experienced summiter already.
“I have created history on Indian television by munching 60 of the chilies in two minutes. I am more than confident of creating a record once I reach London.”
“I have been eating Bhut Jolokia since my childhood and never felt the hotness in my mouth. I can even break the chilli and splash it on my eyes. I tried this on TV and had no problems whatsoever.”
The Assam government will pay for her trip to set the record. The previous world record appears to be 8 jalapenos in a minute, a pretty small bump compared to 60 Bhut Jolokias and a little Bhut Jolokia eyewash.
One consequence of the chile’s new fame is its price is climbing.
“We never thought Bhut Jolokia was so hot until news came in that this is the world’s hottest chilli. Now we have hiked the prices by Rs.50 a kg and people are buying it like hot cakes,” said Nalini Ram Thakuria, a vegetable vendor in Guwahati.
Note: In New Mexico, it’s spelled “chile,” not “chili.”
Tags: Chile, Chili, Bhut Jolokia, Anandita Dutta Tamuly
Monday, February 19th, 2007
World’s Hottest Chile
An NMSU professor has identified what is evidently the hottest chile in the world:
In fall of 2006, the Guinness Book of Records confirmed that New Mexico State University Regent’s Professor Paul Bosland had indeed discovered the world’s hottest chile pepper, Bhut Jolokia.
Bhut Jolokia, at 1,001,304 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), is nearly twice as hot as Red Savina, the chile pepper variety it replaces as the world’s hottest. A New Mexico green chile contains about 1,500 SHUs and an average jalapeno measures at about 10,000 SHUs.
“The name Bhut Jolokia translates as ‘ghost chile,’” Bosland said, “we’re not sure why they call it that, but I think it’s because the chile is so hot, you give up the ghost when you eat it!”
According to Bosland, Bhut Jolokia is a naturally occurring inter-specific hybrid indigenous to the Assam region of northeastern India. A member of NMSU’s Chile Pepper Institute visiting India sent Bhut Jolokia seeds back to NMSU for testing in 2001.
“The plant doesn’t set fruit very well, so it took a couple of years to get enough for field testing,” Bosland said.
The Scoville Heat Units scale for measuring pepper hotness is named in honor of Wilbur Lincoln Scoville, who invented the first method of measuring hotness. The hot substance in chiles is capsaicin. Pure capsaicin has a Scoville Heat rating of 15 to 16 million.
The Chile Pepper Institute was established in 1992 and is located at New Mexico State University.
Tags: Hottest Chile, NMSU, Chile Pepper Institute, Capsaicin
Monday, October 9th, 2006
Mesilla Chiles
The local chile harvest is almost over.
Chile pods can be picked green or red. The pods, green initially, turn red when older.
Green chiles are eaten in many ways, chile rellenos being perhaps the most famous. Red chiles are used for spicing and sauces.
Here’s a green chile two days before its harvest:
Here are red chiles from the same field. Because the pods mature at different times, a field will have both green and red.
Here’s a banana pepper:
Here are cherry peppers:
Tags: Chiles, Chile Rellenos, Peppers
Friday, September 1st, 2006
Hatch Chile Festival
In spite of the rain and flooding, the 2006 Hatch Valley Chile Festival will open as planned. The cost of the Festival is $5. One dollar of the fee goes to a non-profit fund for the victims of the recent flooding in Hatch.
Here’s the Saturday schedule:
Saturday — September 2
10 am — Parade Downtown Hatch
12 noon — 2006 Queen Coronation
1-3 pm — Music by Ginny Mac
All Afternoon Various Chile Contests, Booths, Food
4-7 pm — Music and Dance to “The Silver Bullet Band”
Here’s the Sunday schedule:
Sunday — September 3
12 pm — Cobre Folklorio Dancers
All Afternoon Various Chile Contests, Booths, Food
1-2 pm — Music by Scotty Fitch
2 pm — Queen’s Auction
3-5 pm — Music & Dance by Cameron the DJ
This is the 35th annual festival.
Tags: Hatch Chile Festival
