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Why do we love chilli?
- hfourm 9y agoI absolutely love all things hot. I am especially fond of a growing number of hot sauces I can find that don't come with 10% of your daily sodium allowance in a single serving.
- nathancahill 9y agoSame. Recently I've been on a kick for New Orleans style vinegar/habanero sauce. I'm growing my own habaneros now, it's super simple to make. Plus I have a bunch of old bottles that I saved to fill with my own hot sauce.
- hfourm 9y agoYea, when I get my own place that is easier for growing (we do a little now but not as much as I would like) I definitely want to grow my own ingredients for hot sauces/salsas. Do you have any reading or anything you would recommend for getting into that type of thing? I was also interested in the viability of like an indoor greenhouse/hydroponics setup for growing chilis and things.
- nathancahill 9y agoPeppers do well in dry soil, it's not a myth that wet and rain makes peppers less spicy. Peppers also must be pollinated, so I think that's two counts against indoors/hydroponics. However, they thrive in the sun with little water, you can basically set them outside a window and forget about them.
- lightedman 9y agoMost peppers will pollinate themselves indoors with a good stiff breeze from a fan. Hydroponics growth and yield is nuts, though. In equivalent containers, a god hydro system wil produce an easy 4x what the soil setup will do. http://i.imgur.com/Axy5nl3.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Axy5nl3.jpg The soil tomato on the left is the mother. The hydro tomato on the right was 5 weeks old (cloned from the plant on the left) and already well over the side of the balcony railing, loaded with tomatoes. (Note the lid had to be tied down to prevent the tomato-heavy plant from pulling the lid off and tumbling to the ground below.)
- nathancahill 9y agoYeah, you definitely can't argue with hydroponics for yield. But if the goal is spicy hot peppers, I can't see it being the best approach. Good to know about using a strong fan for indoor pollination. Might have been the missing element last time I tried.
- lightedman 9y agoIf the goal is spicy hot peppers, you actually want more nitrogen in your fruiting cycle as nitrogen is in fact a key component of capsaicin. Do not reduce its levels. This is the big mistake everyone tends to make. Keep your hydro solution balanced (I run about 13-13-13 with 6.5 of the first 13 (N) being a readily-available nitrate.)
- nathancahill 9y agoGood to know, appreciate the info for sure.
- vhost- 9y agoGrow using the double bucket method. They are easy to move around and don't take up a lot of space. That's what I do now and it's been fairly successful for peppers (super hots) and tomatoes each year.
- Mendenhall 9y agoIf you ever get a chance to try "carolina reaper" peppers I strongly suggest giving them a try. A friend grew some and they have amazing flavor imo. Very hot but retains lots of flavor when dried. If you can grow them, even better!!
- degenerate 9y agoSeconded, carolina reaper is the bomb. The bomb of pain and deliciousness.
- clock_tower 9y agoLike a MOAB drizzled with chocolate sauce? :)
- nathancahill 9y agoCurrently working on some Scotch Bonnets. Carolina Reaper is stuff of legends.
- xorcist 9y agoScotch Bonnets are one of my favourites! It has a lovely fruity citrus-y taste, and is really easy to cultivate.
- corey_moncure 9y agoI had the privilege of eating a fresh one at a fish fry a few weeks ago. Yes it was delicious but the pain is absolutely savage. I was a low-grade pepper head up until that, eating habaneros for fun almost every day, but the reaper made me re-think what I have been doing to my body. It is a brutal pepper and only the truly exceptional, probably <0.001% of people could honestly say they enjoy it.
- Mendenhall 9y agoI enjoy them but would never eat a fresh one, they scare me :) I use minute amounts in cooking because the flavor actually holds up and is different compared to other peppers I had. I do suggest to someone who may want to try them to use very small amount in cooking so they can enjoy it. I wouldnt want the experience spoiled because it is super hot. Whatever you do do not touch your eyes etc even after you wash your hands!
- Stanleyc23 9y agocare to list some of those sauces?
- hfourm 9y agoNo, a lot are local, some aren't. I don't know the names directly off hand. I try a lot of hot sauces without really much brand loyalty. I just have noticed a lot more lately (last few years) that have maybe 1-2% sodium as opposed to 7-9% on traditional hot sauces at big brand stores.
- sndean 9y ago> a lot are local Some of the best, hottest hot sauces I've bought have been from little stands at farmers' markets southwest of here (semi-rural area). Some without labels - just a jar of the stuff. The only bad part is trying to go back months later to get more.
- RickS 9y agoNot sure about sodium content, but green yucateco is my household staple, and secret aardvark from portland is one I found recently and is perhaps the best hot sauce I've ever had. It's so good you want to eat it by the spoonful. Both of those sauces aren't vinegar-forward (like tabasco is), FWIW
- dawnerd 9y agoSecret Aardvark is soooooo good. Highly recommend it to anyone that wants a great tasting sauce with a kick. I love that it's not just heat like some of the other sauces are.
- stagger87 9y agoCheck out these guys. https://www.torchbearersauces.com/buy/ https://www.torchbearersauces.com/buy/ Nutrition labels on the website. Low sodium in most. All very good sauces. (I am not a representative of this company)
- eximius 9y ago
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- nommm-nommm 9y agoBecause they make my tummy feel nice and warm.
- mirimir 9y agoThe article is missing a key point. I love chillies, ginger, horseradish, etc. And sure, I'm an adrenaline junky, and sometimes too macho. But I have learned a key thing about eating hot food: It's far more fun if you ramp up the burn gradually. The pain transforms into something else, more like pleasure. Just as it does with sex. And I do believe that other flavors taste better on top of the burn. Milk is a decent antidote for overexposure. Better is yogurt. And even better is yogurt with mint and cucumber, one of the standard raitas. Or yogurt and banana.
- Xophmeister 9y agoI remember reading that dairy-based "antidotes" such as milk or yoghurt aren't ideal, especially as you get spicier, and that a better option is sugary water. Unfortunately, I don't quite remember the chemical/physical justification for this; something along the lines of the fats in dairy products just coating the spices in your mouth temporarily, while sugar actually absorbs and washes it away.
- mirimir 9y agoThat makes sense. Indian meals typically end with insanely sweet desserts, and sweet tea with milk.
- corysama 9y agoI'm surprised to see all the pepper fanatics chugging milk. I'm a spice wuss and know nearly zero about the stuff. But, as soon as I read that Scoville units were based on sugar water, I started using sweet stuff to cancel the burn. Works great. Whereas milk hardly helps at all.
- make3 9y agomilk is sugary water
- dpark 9y agoDespite the downvotes, this is an accurate statement. There are 13g of sugar in 8oz of milk, which is half of what you'd get from a Coca Cola but still a fair bit of sugar.
- ArlenBales 9y agoSpicy food is my favorite, especially Thai cuisine. I eat red curry "Thai Hot" from a local Thai place at least once a week. I'm hopelessly addicted to it, though my friends can't see how I can stomach that level of spice.
- madengr 9y agoA local Thai restaurant was my favorite too, until a real Sichuan restaurant opened up. The numbing of the Sichuan peppercorns allows you to eat even more chilies. So addicting.
- Clownshoesms 9y agoIf anyone visits Melbourne, there is a restaurant called Spicy Fish (I think) in Chinatown. They make a spicy fish soup that feels/tastes like red hot lava made with those peppercorns and chilli presumably. Very nice.
- chaseha 9y ago"... the old Hungarian saying that “good paprika burns twice”"
- Xophmeister 9y agoIs it not also true that spicy foods elicit an immune and metabolic response? Given that won't achieve anything, insofar as the spiciness is concerned at least, perhaps the effects of these are nonetheless felt to be favourable.
- Clownshoesms 9y agoI thought endorphins were released due to the pain, hence people really getting into it (same with some athletes I guess).
- DigitalJack 9y agoOlive oil is spicy? I can't say I've ever noticed and I cook with it a lot.
- iamacynic 9y agoswallow a spoonful of fresh extra virgin.
- Clownshoesms 9y agoYep nice peppery twang. A lot of oil sold as olive oil or EVOO, isn't.
- vixen99 9y agoThat's the oleocanthal at work. Pretty good for you it seems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleocanthal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleocanthal.
- Clownshoesms 9y agoThanks for that. The more you open up nature, the more it seems like a computer to me. An incredible amount of mystery to be found there.
- renaudg 9y agoThere is definitely a cultural factor at play here, and I'm absolutely not surprised to read this in the Guardian. As a French expat in London, I find the British crazy in love with chilli. I'm unfortunately not, and it's a daily struggle when grocery shopping or eating out because it will rear its ugly spicy head everywhere you least expected it : from soup to confectionery, nothing seems off limits! With a few notable exceptions, I liken the use of chilli in cuisine to gratuitous violence in movies : a lazy fix for bland meals that otherwise wouldn't stand on their own feet. A smokescreen of burnt tastebuds to hide behind. A pain that I'm aware (but can't understand why) many people enjoy inflicting unto themselves. Sorry for the (slightly tongue in cheek) harsh words : I have an axe to grind with chilli ever since I walked into the confectionery aisle of my local supermarket for the first time, shortly after I moved here. Naively looking for my standard French/Belgian fare of dark chocolate with roasted almonds, hazelnut, or rice, I found nothing of the sort. Instead, what they had on offer was perfectly good chocolate laced with Wasabi, of all things ! Wasabi ! And yes, you guessed it, chilli. I suppose that's the same sinking feeling British expats in France experience the first time they hear French rock'n'roll / hip-hop on the radio.
- vram22 9y agoI love the second and last lines of your comment. Surprised to hear they put chili in confectionery (assuming that is sweet items).
- billjings 9y agoThis British spelling is driving me crazy. Here's my understanding of how chile is meant to be spelled: Chile: the spicy fruit that we use to burn ourselves silly. Jalepeño chile, Habañero chile, etc. Chile #2: the sauce made in New Mexico from red or green chiles, often Hatch chiles Chili: a delicious stew made with three primary ingredients: 1. Beef 2. Chiles, either powdered or fresh 3. A very strong opinion as to what constitutes chili
- simplehuman 9y agoChile #3: the south american country
- jean- 9y ago> Habañero chile A bit off-topic, but since you mention spelling: "habañero" is one of my favourite hyperforeignisms in the English language. Wikipedia even uses it as an example in the first paragraph here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperforeignism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperforeignism . Such an interesting linguistic phenomenon!
- ianai 9y agoI'm glad I wasn't the only one.
- Safety1stClyde 9y agoPeople love to try to appear to be exceptional in some way. Some people think that by eating food which is difficult to consume without first accustoming themselves, they will be able to distinguish themselves from the common herd. My feeling about this is antagonistic to their unwarranted self-regard; by attempting to earmark themselves merely by the act of consuming a food, they instead display their mediocrity.
- surrey-fringe 9y ago/r/iamverysmart
- clock_tower 9y agoI agree with what he's saying, but you do have a point. Good prose is lucid; eschew obfuscation, as the saying goes.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- always_good 9y agoYou just sound like someone who doesn't enjoy the heat, yet managed to come up with a righteous backsplanation for why that must be. Peppers simply heighten the experience of eating, like having your ass slapped during sex.
- clock_tower 9y agoBut they do mask the quality of other ingredients -- note the Frenchman's comment above.
- always_good 9y agoThat's a separate issue from this thread. Adding enough sex to a movie will teeter it into pornography, but that doesn't mean it's unenjoyable. And I'm not convinced most heat-lovers add it to the point where they cannot taste anything. I live in Mexico where I suppose most people are part of the mediocre herd that Safety1stClyde so insists he's not, yet the people I know reaching for the hotter salsas have a tolerance to the milder ones. Suggesting that it's "to look cool" is petty.
- interfixus 9y agoI'm sure it's a real enough thing for people out there. Me, though, I've never cracked that code: What is it, why does everybody get all exited about all this taste stuff? Sure, some things taste good, some things taste bad, there's stuff I like to eat, and stuff I wouldn't touch with a ten foot spoon, but honestly, it's just ... food. Apparently, I'm at odds with most people on this. Friends have a really hard time accepting that I mean it when I say I have no preference for what we are going to eat (well, I'll skip the meat, but otherwise), or indeed, whether we are going to eat anything - can't we just grab some bananas if we're hungry? Of course, this also generally leaves me less than enthusiastic about eating at restaurants. Basically money out the window in my stymied view of the world.
- 2845197541 9y agoI'm a capsaicin addict. I have a bottle of Reaper Squeezins in my fridge. The heat makes eating more of an event. It wakes me up more than coffee. Nothing makes you live in the moment more than acute physical pain. It's a strange pleasure. I'm not a masochist in any other realm. On a strange note, I'm a oral tobacco user and I swear that capsaicin followed by chew enhances nicotine absorption.