I'm using Bhut Jolokia in chili and in fudge. Mary

Fudge?!

This is in the trial and error stage. Yesterday I made a batch with three pinches of Bhut Jolokia powder. This particular powder is from a "sister" to my plants, so I well know the heat level. It is not just the amount of powder, but also when to add it, that has to be worked out. Let's call that a one eighth of a teaspoon. It was added at the beginning.
I can tell it is in there, but I tried it on a couple of unsuspecting people and they really did not notice.
Next I will try adding it at the last minute and just before cooling it off. After I test that, I can work on increasing the amount of powder.
Not only can I tell it is in there, I really like it.
Mary E.

I'm going to have to try that!

@TJP8: If you wait a couple days you can call it a Hot Fudge Sunday!

Groan, sorry, couldn't resist. ;-)

I'm going to have to try that!

I don't know why that posted twice... I mean I could try that too!

Teej
For these test batches, I am using "Carnation Famous Fudge" kits, it is a holiday item. Right now, you may find them half off, after Christmas. I have seen them at Walgreen's and CVS both. Half price is three dollars, and all you have to add is butter. Then add pecans or walnuts or whatever your heart desires.

I'll definitely pick some up on my way home from work tonight! Thanks Mary!

Simple english toffee works great for pepper powder too. If you like Skor bars, same taste with a bit of heat. I also use this particular toffee recipe as a weight loss aid. Spice it up, then you don't want to eat as much, or aren't supposed to.

TJP8 -- If you want to be hardcore, you can make pepper spray.

I make powders, hot sauce, and salsa with mine. I' want to try adding to chocolates next.

I am with TJP's father. But I am going to grow few super hots this coming season, for sports. I have bee growing Habaneros for about 7?8? years and they take care of my needs pretty good. I cook with fresh ones and make hot sauce. Last year I added Red Hab to orange. I like the red better.

YMMV

Seysonn

I use cinnamon all the time, but I don't eat it.

I have a bed of Egyptian Walking Onion perennials, I don't eat or use the stalks, too woody, only the bulblets.

I use bell peppers all the time but I do not grow them to eat.

I do not "eat" super-hot peppers. I grow them for the heat I add to my daily life.

I've made spicy chocolate candies before, as well as adding rice crispies to them to make a larger format treat.

Mary, the finer you grind the powder the better your results will be with this project (gets the heat more evenly distributed), and I like to add it as early in the process as possible for the same reason. getting it evenly distributed is the hardest part.

This will be my first year growing super hots. I plan to make powders, sauces and salsas with mine. To each their own. Even if you grew them just for the experience I would think that would be reason enough. Who do people grow flowers? I would assume it would be to look at them. The same could also be applied to peppers. They really are beautiful plants IMO.

Just another thought. I was playing around with the thought of HOT chocolate for the last couple of days. Enter a bit of some super-hot powder. It was indeed HOT chocolate in more ways than one....

obchili -- I always add hot pepper to my hot chocolate! Add a bit of hot pepper powder, cinnamon, a twist of sea salt, and you'll have hot chocolate that's to die for!

TJP8,
I like to grow Bhuts as a way to regulate heat in salsas and sauces. I don't personally eat them whole, but each to his/her own.
You can grow a Numex Suave orange habanero, which has no heat, then make a sauce with it and regulate the heat with the addition of Bhut puree, fresh or dried ones. Plus you can make hot oils and hot vodka and tequila.
Grow a few lemon drop plants and have the doubters use them diced up in a salad. The flavor is unique, and you can't buy'em. Most peppers make damn good ornamental plantings too.
You can shut'em up by agreeing with'em and say that yer gonna start growing pot instead... ;-)

Once you get into making jellies/jams with superhots, you'll be immediately hooked...

Mike

I'm growing them partly cause I like training my palette for hotter and hotter chiles. I'm up to Carolina Reaper hot sauce.

But mostly to use in cooking. Yes, eating soup that tastes like molten lava actually does taste quite good when you get a tolerance for higher levels of capsaicin.

In any event, I decided early on that I did NOT want to get into pepper extracts. So the only way up from Carolina Reaper hot sauce is actual fresh peppers.

Like SoCarRob said, the pods are pretty to look at. A bowl of different color and different shaped peppers is as pretty as a vase of flowers. That's why my wife tolerates them. You need them for sauces (I love Datil sauce, and I make a Peach Habanero sauce), and the sauces make great gifts. I have to say that I've cut way back on the superhots and mostly grow much milder peppers that are superior for cooking. This year I'll be growing paprika varieties and heirloom Italian varieties.

Tom

Somebody said the pods (of super hots) are pretty ??:-)

Beauty is in the eyes of holder.

Seysonn

Do they grow flowers?

Because you can't eat flowers either. So whats the difference between them growing something just to look at, and you growing something just to look at?

No body has touch on the health benefits of the fruit and then the potential anti-cancer attributes of capsaicin itself. I know the later is still up for debate but I like to eat it so I will use that as one of my reasons :)
-chuck

Good call on that pepperchuck. Capsicum has a whole myriad of medicinal uses. Here's some info from WebMD:

Capsicum, also known as red pepper or chili pepper, is an herb. The fruit of the capsicum plant is used to make medicine.

Capsicum is used for various problems with digestion including upset stomach, intestinal gas, stomach pain, diarrhea, and cramps. It is also used for conditions of the heart and blood vessels including poor circulation, excessive blood clotting, high cholesterol, and preventing heart disease.

Other uses include relief of toothache, seasickness, alcoholism, malaria, and fever. It is also used to help people who have difficulty swallowing.

Some people apply capsicum to the skin for pain caused by shingles, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia. It is also used topically for nerve pain (neuropathy) associated with diabetes and HIV, other types of nerve pain (neuralgia), and back pain.

Capsicum is also used on the skin to relieve muscle spasms, as a gargle for laryngitis, and to discourage thumb-sucking or nail-biting.

Some people put capsicum inside the nose to treat hay fever, migraine headache, cluster headache, and sinus infections (sinusitis).

One form of capsicum is currently being studied as a drug for migraine, osteoarthritis, and other painful conditions.

A particular form of capsicum causes intense eye pain and other unpleasant effects when it comes in contact with the face. This form is used in self-defense pepper sprays.

Erica,
I can second that about respiratory problems. Lots of country folk here in Texas used to keep a Tepin plant nearby so when they got a cold or sinus problem they could chew a couple of red or green ones first thing in the morning. Clears you right up.
And then there's the toothache tree...

Erica,
I can second that about respiratory problems. Lots of country folk here in Texas used to keep a Tepin plant nearby so when they got a cold or sinus problem they could chew a couple of red or green ones first thing in the morning. Clears you right up.
And then there's the toothache tree...

They are great to use in a sauce or powder. You would be surprised at what you can tolerate using a ghost pepper as a sauce, the additional ingredients you use will tone it down, and it does not come close to the heat power of a raw ghost eaten. If you add fruit or vegetables and less ghost then the heat is toned down even more. I use 10-12 ghost per hot sauce bottle and do not use any major fillers, but that's my preference. Go for it the flavor of the super hots are worth it.

I grow hot peppers so

For use in Jerk Seasoning and for making pepper sauce and pickle, I also blanch a batch and keep in olive oil for use when I make hot and spicy entrees.

Really,you still hung in junior high or what?
Live your life and be damned with parental over reach and peer pressure.
Less facebook would also likey to e very benificial

My $.0ü

Tom,

More like elementary, by the time they get to junior high they don't worry about what their parents think...

As far as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and all the others. I have better things to do

I am suprised though that nobody has said they grow them for the pain. That's what i tell the wife when she complains about peppers planted everywhere.

Quote from the article linked below...
"Eating hot chili peppers allows us to court danger without risk, activating areas of the brain related to both pleasure and pain."

Here is a link that might be useful: Why we love the pain of spicy food

Machismo

I have also read before that Among other benefits) capsaicin is a mood enhancer and may create some sort of addiction. But it is a good and beneficial.

Seysonn

I will be the first to admit, i'm no tough guy. They hurt me, but i keep going back cause i'm addicted to the pain. Kinda like some twisted S&M fetish, know what i mean, Erica?? lol

The pain naturally induces endorphin release, nature's heroin. Any strong sensation of pain will do the same. Our bodies do this naturally to keep a lid on pain. This is why eating peppers is thought to be habit-forming. The same physiological response occurs after exercise and sexual climax.

Another reason to grow peppers which has I think been overlooked is the flavor. Whether used in sauce or powder, or eaten raw (in tiny pieces, mind you, like minced garlic) - the flavor of many hot chinense varieties is unique and superb, once you get accustomed to the heat.

Alex,

I agree, many have great flavor. Rationalize how ever you see fit, but my guess is most are hooked on the pain

John -- Thank god I wasn't into peppers back in those days. I would have been a real meany, replacing cinnamon oil with Carolina reapers. You can use your imagination for the rest. =P

Erica,

Still waiting for the pic of you handcuffed to a pepper plant...lol

I make salsa every year, and dry a lot of peppers to use in cooking or to make my own hot pepper and seasoning mixes. Haven't tried making hot sauce yet, because we still have a lot on the shelf.
I also powder up the hot pepper to mix in with my bird seed and suet cakes as a squirrel deterrent. Birds don't taste it, but the critters do.
Super super hots I steep in vinegar and oil to make a spray solution for the garden to help deter critters from chomping on my plants. Like when my beans are first coming up, I spray against rabbits. It also works with some bugs, like aphids, but you have to be careful how you spray, because it can be bad for bees too.

I like doing those sprays because it is like a seasoning for the snacks you eat while in the garden. (I just steep citrus and superhots, tasty for me, not so much for critters)

.22 caliber spray is more effective for rabbits

And then you can give the rabbit a sprits of the citrus pepper tea :)

Ohh pepperchuck, I hadn't thought of doing a citrus pepper spray. How do you make yours?

Yea Chuck, fill us in.. i never tried either. if nothing else i can spray it on the uniforms of people i don't like here at work...lol

when it all boils down ... ITS A CULT ... rotflmbo ....

what more need be said ...

and those not in it.. just dont understand it ....

i surely dont ... but i respect said cult ... they really only harm themselves ... lol ...

ken

Super simple... boil a few cups of water, when it reaches a rolling boil take it off the heat... toss about an oranges worth of peel in the water with a pod or two of peppers (dried, fresh, powdered, whatever you have handy) let steep overnight, strain, put in a spray bottle and use weekly. I keep the left overs refriderated. The pepper residue is thought to keep mammalian critters away, and the citrus is unappealing to various pests. I switch up on the fruit peel, it is really whatever I have around that day. Sometimes I'll also add a few cloves of garlic as an antifungal. Also, I use this as a preventative and I haven't had any serious problems with pests (except hornworms) yet. So I can't say if it's the spray or luck.

Well that does sound appealing pepperchuck... I'll have to give it a try :)