Baccus

I’m not usually one to get annoyed by people producing condiments.  In fact I applaud the pioneering manufacturers who shake up* the sauce world with a new recipe or two.  For example, I recently tried a version of the classic Piccalilli with added chillies – it was called chillilli.  Not only a great sauce, but a great name as well.

However, the incessant push to create a hotter sauce than the last one has led to someone to create the hottest sauce in the world.   They have gone and bottled pure capsicum.

Before I start to question the sanity of this sauce I would like to point out a few chili related facts that might influence your opinion on the matter.

1. The hotness in chillies is caused by a compound called Capsicum – it’s found as an oil in the white pithy bit of the chili.  This is why the seeds are hot – they are in close contact with the oil and this is also why it’s safer to nibble the tip than the shoulder of the fruit. 

 2. A chilli’s hotness is measured in Scovilles.  Mr. Scoville came up with the measurment by costantly diluting a chilli mixture with more water until he couldn’t feel the effect any more.

3.  The chillies that I generally grow are no more 100,000 Scovilles.  These are generally considered to be ‘bastard’ strength. 

4.  Pepper spray is about 5.3 million Scovilles. 

5.  Pure capsicum is about 16 million Scovilles. 

If you follow the logic it means someone has gone to the trouble of producing a product designed for consumption that Police in America have deemed as 3 times the amount needed to adequately suppress rioters, muggers, and would-be liberals.

Why would you do this? 

It’s pointless.  To me the art of producing a hot sauce is to deliver some flavour along with a kick – some kind of payback for enduring the heat is to taste something that you know no-one else has tasted without going through the same pain!  But to distill capsicum and serve it as a sauce is just an exercise in macho-chili-pride.

I could come up with a few other tests of pure pain resistance if I wanted (sitting through an episode of The Walton’s for example…) but it’s pointless.  What does it achieve?

I’m following through on this anti-silly heat stance by growing bigger, less hot chillies this year – you can do more with them in the kitchen but still get a reasonable burn.

I ordered several packets of specialist seeds through Simpson’s seeds this year and I am looking forward to sowing them all this weekend.

Pretty soon I will fire up the bad boy Hydroponic set and I shall be getting increased yields of fruit…

Roll on spring! 

* I apologise for this shameful pun…