I guess you have to like "pertsovka" (pepper-flavored vodka, a real thing) to like this.

The garlic isn't necessary, but I like garlic, and the 'sweet garlic' flavor does complement both the pepper zing and the heat.

The garlic gives it a sweet flavor, the black pepper is a complex zing, and the super-hot powdered chili adds the nice Bhut flavor briefly, then a BURN that overwhelms everything else..

The amount of dilution makes it anything from a little "Ha!" to an "OWWWWW!"

I would call it more of an "experience" than a flavor.

>> I'm not a drinker at all

The alcohol is the least important part of the recipe! It just extracts flavor and heat from the ingredients, and maybe it preserves them. You could double or triple the garlic and peppers, then pour only a teaspoon or two into the glass, and dilute with water.

My son makes Limoncelllo all the time and I do like a little bit of that

Hmmm ... lemon-zest-spirits. It sounds good.

I just found this thread, wow! I really learned a lot. I thought I'd share a couple things from down here in Mexico. I have a Mexican friend here who moved to France and was trying to describe to the french how certain foods require a certain pepper and that it matters which one you use. They seemed to think that they just added heat and the type didn't matter. She finally told them that to a Mexican peppers are like cheese is to a frenchman, you can't just say 'add cheese' and it doesn't matter what kind. They finally 'got it' when she put it that way.

Also, when chile seco (which is a sauce made from dried chiles, usually arbol and habanero) is being made it is always cooked outside away from the house. It has to cook a long time and the fumes are considered bad for the children and the old, truth is they are bad for everyone's eyes and nose.

OK, for something new. I'm getting ready to go to hot pepper night and we will be testing two new hot peppers. There is a new cross that people are saying is hotter than anything they have ever tried. Look how huge and nasty looking they are. Beware of the giant Bhutlahs! They are a cross with Bhut Jolokias and Douglahs. Bumpy and chocolate, two combinations for excessive heat! More to come. A whole bar full of people will be comparing them with the hottest peppers in the world tonight. Tom

Frightening!

I'd love to be there for that! (Not participating, mind you -- just watching the participants!!)

Jonna - Welcome to he crazy world and people of hot peppers. How did you end up in living in Mexico or were you born there 19 yeas ago.

Tom - scary. I want to buy some

How did you end up in living in Mexico or were you born there 19 yeas ago.

19 Years ago!! I was old even 19 years ago. I retired here, having had a beach condo for many years a few hours away and falling in love with this city. Originally, I am from California.

we hear so many bad things about Mexico and the cartels we don't realize there are safe and beautiful parts there.

Yes, that's true. Oddly enough if you are outside the US and just read about all the shootings and beheadings and gang violence you can get the same impression. People don't remember that both countries are quite large and that there are kind, honest people in both of them. Of course, that doesn't sell newspapers.

Well, we have a new hottest pepper! 18 people showed up last night for hot pepper night. We tried some new chocolate Moruga scorpions and compared them to 7 pod Douglah, which is also a chocolate pepper. The choc. Moruga was plain tasting and not impressive at all. The Douglah has a very unique taste and was about 30% hotter tasting.
We compared the new Bhutlah with the Carolina Reaper, which is currently the formal world record holder, and the 7 pod Primo, which is my personal favorite for taste and heat, and the group has already determined is 10% hotter than the reaper. The heat beat both of them by at least 10% and even though it is hard to compare the taste of a red and a chocolate pepper, pretty much everyone said the others tasted plain compared to the Bhutlah. Seeds are not available of this new unstable hybrid and may not be for years, but I will be extracting seeds from the bumpiest looking pods, and will grow a good as mount of plants for next season. I will throw away the inferior plants and keep the ones that have the hottest, best tasting and good form pods. Might have to grow 50 plants to get 5 good ones but that is the way breeding goes. Tom

Tom @cycadjungle could you take a look at my question here The thread "Tomato genetics/seed saving question" in Vegetables and Fruit forum and see if you have anything to contribute?? (Thanks!! )

cycadjungle said:OK, for something new. I'm getting ready to go to hot pepper night and we will be testing two new hot peppers. There is a new cross that people are saying is hotter than anything they have ever tried. Look how huge and nasty looking they are. Beware of the giant Bhutlahs! They are a cross with Bhut Jolokias and Douglahs. Bumpy and chocolate, two combinations for excessive heat! More to come. A whole bar full of people will be comparing them with the hottest peppers in the world tonight. Tom

Congratulations!

Do I have this right?


Bhutlah - a new cross (10% hotter) (giant, bumpy, chocolate and flavor is "not plain")
7 pod Primo (10% hotter than Carolina Reaper) (Tom's favorite for taste and heat)
Carolina Reaper (currently the formal world record holder)
7 pod Douglah (chocolate) (30% hotter than the new chocolate Moruga Scorpion)
new chocolate Moruga Scorpion (plain tasting and not impressive)

Good luck stabilizing the new cross between Bhut Jolokias and Douglahs. I assume that several hot pepper breeders are all trying to stabilize it at the same time.

Do you each get to name your stable line, like 'Tom's Bhutlah'?

If you find some extra-tasty ones and some extra-hot ones, would you try to stabilize TWO lines, or stay focused on just one?

I've read that the second most important thing in breeding is to Know Your Goal, and focus on just one or a very limited number of goals at one time. However, that sounded dubious to me, since most people would not deliberately maintain a line that had one good trait, but was not vigorous, not productive, or prone to diseases.

(The most important thing was supposed to be a ruthless devotion to discarding anything that was less than the best.)

In the past, when several groups each stabilized a strain, did they start crossing those lines to push the genetics farther?

You have all the top details correct. It was nice of the breeder to even let me get some of these. There is not a big group of people working with these. Normally, I would just be happy I got to try some but given how awesome this was, I want to work with them. I will be trying to get the best of all worlds. Taste, heat, pod form and also wall thickness since these seem to go bad quicker. Just using a supplement of Magnesium Sulphate might help with this last part though, but that isn't genetic.
Some people do all kinds of things with genetics, it is up to them.

>> also wall thickness since these seem to go bad quicker.

Do many thin-walled peppers tend to go bad faster than thick walled?

Or did you only mean that the new Bhutlah cross goes bad faster than other peppers?

In my imagination, ANY breeder would want a chance to test and cross his stabilized strain with someone else's stabilized strain. Each might have lost some trait that the other still has, especially if more than one gene can influence a given trait.

All this talk about hot peppers makes my brain ache and that is why I will be buying my peppers from Tom.

Is this what you are talking about?

I just powdered up the rest of my Bhutlahs after extracting about 5 to 10 seeds from each of the best, or worst , looking ones. I just sampled the powder. This is the most brutal powder for heat I have ever tried. Maybe a little harsh in taste for a chocolate pepper, bit these things are going to make some seriously hot powder!

Tom - that's exactly what I meant.

if hat powder is brutal that it will kill most people.