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Notes from an inexperienced chili taster named FRANK, who was visiting Texas from New Jersey and was roped into judging a chili contest: "Recently I was lucky enough to be the 10,000th attendee at the State Fair in Texas, and was asked to fill in to be a judge at their annual Texas Chili Cook-Off. Apparently the original judge #3 called in sick at the last moment, and I just happened to be standing there when the call came in. I was assured by the other two judges (native Texans) that it would be a fun event and a true...

Central-east Mexico gave birth to the domesticated chili pepper—now the world's most widely grown spice crop—reports an international team of researchers, led by a plant scientist at the University of California, Davis. Results from the four-pronged investigation—based on linguistic and ecological evidence as well as the more traditional archaeological and genetic data—suggest a regional, rather than a geographically specific, birthplace for the domesticated chili pepper. That region, extending from southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca to southeastern Veracruz, is further south than was previously thought, the researchers found. The region also is different from areas of origin that have been suggested...

Chili tastes are highly personal, often inflexible and loaded with preconceptions — the political party of culinary offerings. For some people raised in Texas, the notion of beans is akin to cat food, dismissed with derision as filler. Some chili cooks believe flavor rises and falls on cumin levels; others say the story begins and ends with dried chiles. Some like a rich beefy stock, and there are those who extol the entanglement of bacon. Poultry and venison have their place (beef purists blanch), and vegetarian chili is met largely with guffaws except by the people who smilingly bring it...

Ten days ago, I wrote a column that mentioned fresh New Mexico green chile would soon be available at a grocery store in Washington, D.C. Some readers in Washington – and some who had friends or family in Washington – wrote me asking that I let them know when the chile arrives. Well, here’s your notice. The Harris Teeter grocery store at Jenkins Row on Capitol Hill now has a small stash of genuine Hatch green chile in hot, medium-hot and (last I checked) mild. It’s $1.29 per pound. That’s probably more than New Mexicans are used to paying, but...

Please post 'em here!

Spicy Soup Burns Hole Straight Through Man's Stomach Doctors in China were dumbfounded after seeing the case of a 26-year-old man whose spicy food burned a hole in the wall of his stomach. For some more adventurous eaters, spicy foods are often an exciting dish to try. After all, though urban legends had proclaimed that eating spicy foods could give you an ulcer, the credit for that belongs to the Helicobacter pylori. That is why doctors in the Hubei province of China were dumbfounded after seeing the case of a 26-year-old man whose spicy food, they say, burned a hole...

Outstanding roundup of commentary and food offerings yesterday! Aside from Onofre’s Arm’s recipe for Tyrannical Dictatorship Stew –”TDS”…sounds more like a sexually transmitted disease…I’m going to try them all. Not to ruin your appetites, butt I just wanted to pass this recently made portrait of adorable cuteness on: Cute kid, cute dog…two out of three ain’t bad. And this next one, well, just consider it an early Christmas present: Let’s just see how toned those guns (can I still say that?) are without my magical powers. Framed copies now available; place your order today to receive your limited edition copy...

One of the big successes in this year's garden has been my Ancho Chilis. I've already smoke-roasted a dozen or so with mesquite, until they were shriveled and dry. They make a great addition to beans or chili once you rehydrate them and strain out the skins. But what else do you do with an nice Ancho? I have a bunch more still on the plant and they are really nice, dark green and really delicious looking. I've been harvesting jalapenos and using them for cooking, but I have never cooked with raw Anchos, and was looking for ideas about...

A police officer has been fired after allegedly losing his temper at a cook-off and throwing a tear gas grenade at a rival team - many of whom were military amputees. Mike Hamby, 52, could face criminal charges for the drunken attack, which happened at this year's Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo BBQ Cook-Off in Texas. Several members of the team were left vomiting and with burning eyes after Hamby, an officer with 30 years service, allegedly flung a military-style 'clear-out' grenade into their tent. Hamby, who was off-duty, had been drinking before the incident in February, according to police...

We checked out the results of several chili contests and were surprised to see that Hormel canned chili scored high in several of them, even winning one. You just open a can of Hormel chili and heat it. I think the canned stuff is all right for slathering on a hot dog but not to serve as real chili. Here a recipe for some real stuff that almost as easy as heating up a can of chili and would win a Texas contest. Try it. It a real treat on a snowy winter day.

Live coverage with continuous streaming video of Chilean miners preparation for the rescue. Click here

"Outside of the state of Texas, Cincinnati, Ohio, is the most chili-crazed city in the United States. Cincinnati prides itself on being a true chili capital, with more than 180 chili parlors. Cincinnati-style chili is quite different from its more familiar Texas cousin, and it has developed a cult-like popularity. What makes it different is the way the meat is cooked. The chili has a thinner consistency and is prepared with an unusual blend of spices that includes cinnamon, chocolate or cocoa, allspice, and Worcestershire. this is truly the unofficial grub of Cincinnati. The people of Cincinnati enjoy their chili...

Astronaut Jerry Linenger and architect Eduardo Strauch know the remarkable quality that keeps the trapped Chilean miners going: the immense power of hope. Linenger and Strauch are living proof of survival amid isolation. They say that power is in us all. Thirteen years ago, Linenger was only a month into his four-month expedition on an aging Russian Mir space station when a near-deadly fire broke out. That was the beginning of harrowing experiences that included a near-crash and an oxygen system that kept breaking down. A return was months away. It was the space equivalent of what the miners may...

Chilean officials have been giving the advice to the miners who became trapped nearly half a mile below the surface in a collapse on August 5. One thing they are not telling the men is that it could take as long as four months to drill them out. The miners have a general idea how long the rescue will take but they have not been given specific details, Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said. "I hope that nobody commits the imprudence of telling them something like this," he said. "We have asked the families to be careful in the letters they...

NEW YORK, - A New York man said he is using his home-grown Naga jolokia, known as the world's hottest chili, to create the city's spiciest sauce. Jeff Blaine, 53, said he and restaurant owner Satish Sehgal, 62, are using the Naga jolokia, sometimes known as ghost chili, to create a sauce about 400 times spicier than store-bought Tabasco, the New York Daily News reported Monday. Guinness World Records recognized Naga jolokia as the planet's spiciest chili in 2007. "It's very, very hot," Blaine said. "How hot is hot? You can hallucinate from this chili." He said the sauce will...

The Indian military has a new weapon against terrorism: the world's hottest chili. After conducting tests, the military has decided to use the thumb-sized "bhut jolokia," or "ghost chili," to make tear gas-like hand grenades to immobilize suspects, defense officials said Tuesday. The bhut jolokia was accepted by Guinness World Records in 2007 as the world's spiciest chili. It is grown and eaten in India's northeast for its taste, as a cure for stomach troubles and a way to fight the crippling summer heat. It has more than 1,000,000 Scoville units, the scientific measurement of a chili's spiciness. Classic Tabasco...

THIS is the latest HOT new weapon — a grenade made using the world's hottest chilli. At more than 1,000 times stronger than the average cooking spice the bhut jolokia chilli is set to cause a potent explosion on more than just the taste buds. Military experts in India have developed the new crowd control grenade packed with ground seeds from the chilli — which is officially recognised as the hottest on the planet by Guinness World Records. When deployed the grenade showers the targets with a dust so spicy that in trials subjects were blinded for hours and left...

She cooked it. Say what you will about the half-baked scam perpetrated by Anna Ayala at a San Jose Wendy's five years ago, the finger she supposedly discovered in her chili was medium well-done. And no one would know that better than Ayala: She was the finger-food chef that day. "I cooked it," Ayala said, making a clean breast of her crime for the first time in a televised interview with Joe Vazquez of CBS-5. Ayala's attempt to shake down the fast-food chain attracted worldwide attention, forcing the San Jose Police Department to assign six investigators to the case and...

New quake 20 minutes ago ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE Distances 63 km (39 miles) ENE (73°) from Calama, Chile 257 km (159 miles) NE (55°) from Antofagasta, Chile 296 km (184 miles) SE (142°) from Iquique, Chile 1133 km (704 miles) WNW (284°) from ASUNCION, Paraguay Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 15.8 km (9.8 miles); depth +/- 8.7 km (5.4 miles) Parameters NST=325, Nph=336, Dmin=66.8 km, Rmss=0.7 sec, Gp=

One wonders: does the Obama administration deliberately try to screw up our foreign policy, or is it just a matter of ignorance and incompetence? This is painful reading: "Argentina celebrates diplomatic coup as Hillary Clinton calls for talks over Falklands." Here is a photo of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Argentina's President Fernandez de Kirchner. So much for the idea that foreign relations would be conducted better by women. Now onto the news. Argentina was celebrating a diplomatic coup yesterday in its attempt to force Britain to accept talks on the future of the Falkland Islands, after a two-hour...