(no subject)

[camwyn]

So a while ago I bought the Spice Lab chili-head salt sampler collection from Thinkgeek. They don't carry it any more, but the original makers of the collection still do, if you're interested. I'm not that prone to putting salt in my day to day food; I wanted to test these things out in jerky and chili, mostly. The Sichuan pepper salt was all right and the jalapeno salt wasn't half bad in gravy, but I wound up liking the Cyprus red chili flake salt best, with the smoked serrano a close second. Wound up using those four tubes up and was left with habanero and ghost pepper salt.

Last night I did up a batch of beef jerky for the office, because anyone can do cupcakes or cookies, and used the habanero salt for half of it. This was not the only difference between the two batches, mind. In the spirit of disclosure, the other half the batch used smoked sea salt that was made from Massachusetts coastal seawater, and I ran out of regular paprika after the habanero batch and was forced to use smoked paprika alone for the non-habanero half, resulting in a darker color and probably smokier taste. Regardless, when I brought the two batches in this morning and put them out for the office, the results were extremely positive. The CEO informs me that the habanero batch is my best creation yet.

I am going to have to see how he likes the ghost pepper salt next time, I think. Otherwise that stuff's not going to get used at all.

Comments

[ymfaery]

Habanero salt? Did the jerky turn out appropriately spicy?

[camwyn]

I only tested one or two very small samples of that batch, but they did seem rather spicier than usual, and the guys in the office who tried it all agreed that it was significantly spicier than last time.

[ymfaery]

If you use the ghost pepper salt next time, that'll definitely be "significantly" spicier. XD I take it the guys like spicy stuff. :)

[camwyn]

I checked first to see what levels of spiciness they favored, and since I had two guys saying the hotter the better, I broke out the habanero. I've got some limited familiarity with ghost pepper, ever since I got a jar of ghost pepper flakes with Geek Points at thinkgeek. used to put one tap of the shaker- one- on my pizza at work, then put the jar in the middle of the table for anyone else who wanted it.

I feared the woman in Accounting who routinely shook it all over her slice as if it were ordinary red pepper every single week.

[ymfaery]

I'd guess the cheese on the pizza would mitigate the spiciness a bit, but otherwise, wow, that lady must have been hardcore. :)

Somewhat tangentially, an employee at the popcorn place recently told me someone made a pepper that was hotter than the Trinidad scorpion chili, and that the boss was going to bring it in. I can't wait to see what that flavor will be named. XD

[camwyn]

See, after a certain point it stops being a food additive and starts being an unrefined chemical weapon.

(Also I think the pepper in question may be a variety called the Carolina Reaper, so that's gonna make for some interesting names....)

[ymfaery]

Oh god, I cringe at the thought of ghost chili in pepper spray.

(Yeah, that's the name, I couldn't remember. Considering how punny some of the other popcorn flavor names are, I'm not sure if I should fear or eagerly anticipate the possible new flavor. ;)

[camwyn]

An online friend of mine years ago told me about his father's hobby of breeding ultra-hot peppers. He said his dad finally decided he'd hit the jackpot when he went outside one day to check on the garden and found a dead rabbit lying under a pepper with several teeth marks in it.

[ymfaery]

....teeth marks? So the rabbit didn't even get to take a bite out of the chili, just bit into it? Oh dear. XD (I wonder if that would help folks with deer problems. XD)