Chili Pepper Sauce

Can chili sauce be just too hot for human consumption? I didn't think so, until I watched this video. I think my prehistoric instinct for self-survival would prevent me from doing what this guy just did:



A million scoville units? Nah, I'm just not going there.

I think the hottest thing I ever ate was a peppery bowl of soup--I forget the exact variety--at PS Bangkok, in Lincoln Park. It wasn't the heat, as much as the fact that it was a chili oil that coated my tongue and just wouldn't go away, no matter how much ice water I drank after. Yes, I know that milk or Indian lassi are antidotes for peppery pain, but I had neither on hand. As far as pepper, I'm probably a wimp.

So, is tasting ridiculously peppery sauces just a macho conceit, a form of masochism or something that can be learned and eased into over time? And is stupidly hot pepper (in the millions of scovilles--the stuff that puts police pepper spray to shame) ever a pleasant experience? The only analogy I can think of is: would sticking a pin in your face, repeatedly, ever be something any sane person would want to pursue?

Tom wrote:So, is tasting ridiculously peppery sauces just a macho conceit, a form of masochism or something that can be learned and eased into over time? And is stupidly hot pepper (in the millions of scovilles--the stuff that puts police pepper spray to shame) ever a pleasant experience?

I'm not sure if it's true for everyone, but you do develop a tolerance and ease into it. I've had stuff that was 2 million scoville (Wanza's Wicked) and a couple of drops of the stuff won't cause me to cough and gag like it did for this fellow, but I have to say, it's kind of pointless. All it tastes like--to me, at any rate--is a sharp, bitter chemical burn. It's just silly stuff. The only extract-based sauce I've ever had that actually delivered in terms of heat and flavor is Dave's Insanity Original, and that's "only" at around 180,000 scoville units. I grow peppers much hotter than that.