Tabasco sauce? Child’s play. Chili flakes on your pizza? Please, give us a break. There are chili peppers that shouldn’t be handled without a gas mask. And eating them requires a fireproof tongue
If you want to cook a dish using Trinidad Scorpion Butch T, which originates in Australia and is now recognized as one of the world’s hottest chili, specialist cook books recommend wearing a gas mask.
It’s impossible to stand near the pan without your eyes watering, or without breathing in the resulting fumes, let alone taste your creation. The Trinidad Scorpion has broken every record, registering as 1,463,700 on the Scoville scale, the internationally recognized unit for measuring the hotness of a chili.
The average SHU (Scoville Heat Unit) for a jalapeno pepper stands at around 5,000, while habaneros can reach up to 350,000. There are some big organizations that count themselves amongst lovers of spicy food, and on the internet you can find websites and videos immortalizing those adventurers with fireproof palates. Eating a record-breaking chili, however, can also mean ending up with a permanently damaged sense of taste.
For a video series featuring some truly crazy tastings click here.
Young chef and self-professed lasagna head, Valerio Braschi, harnesses his love of his favourite dish in a lasagna flavoured toothpaste dish at his Roman restaurant. Find out more.
