Posted on 10/10/2017 7:20:51 AM PDT by Red Badger
Death by chili pepper may not be a common way to die, but it's certainly a possibility for unlucky souls adventurous enough to try Dragon's Breath, the new hottest pepper in town.
Mike Smith, the owner of Tom Smith's Plants in the United Kingdom, developed the record-breaking pepper with researchers at the University of Nottingham. He doesn't recommend the pepper for eating, however, because it may be the last thing a person ever tastes.
So how exactly do hot peppers, such as Dragon's Breath, maim or kill those who try to eat them? Let's start with the pepper's spicy stats: Dragon's Breath is so spicy, it clocks in at 2.48 million heat units on the Scoville scale, a measurement of concentration of capsaicin, the chemical that releases that spicy-heat sensation people feel when they bite into a chili pepper. Dragon's Breath is hotter than the current record-holder, the Carolina Reaper, which packs an average of 1.6 million Scoville heat units, as well as U.S. military pepper sprays, which hit about 2 million on the Scoville scale, according to the Daily Post.
In comparison, the habanero pepper is downright mild at about 350,000 Scoville heat units, as is the jalapeño pepper, which registers at up to 8,000 heat units, according to PepperScale, a site dedicated to hot peppers. Bell peppers have a recessive gene that stops the production of capsaicin, so they have zero heat units, PepperScale reported. [Tip of the Tongue: The 7 (Other) Flavors We Can Taste]
Dragon's Breath, in contrast, is so potent that it will be kept in a sealed container when it goes on display at the Chelsea Flower Show from May 23 to 27 in London, the Daily Post reported.
"I've tried it on the tip of my tongue, and it just burned and burned," Smith told the Daily Post. "I spat it out in about 10 seconds."
Spicy havoc
When a daredevil, such as Smith, eats an exceptionally spicy pepper, the first sensation is usually mouth numbness, according to Paul Bosland, professor of horticulture at New Mexico State University and director of the Chile Pepper Institute.
"What's happening is that your receptors in your mouth are sending a signal to your brain that there's pain, and it's in the form of hotness or heat, and so your brain produces endorphins to block that pain," Bosland told Live Science previously.
However, unusually hot peppers go beyond numbing the mouth. When these extreme examples are eaten, the body inflates liquid-filled "balloons," or blisters, in areas exposed to the concentrated capsaicin, including the mouth and (if swallowed) the throat, Bosland said. These blisters can help absorb the capsaicin's heat.
"The body is sensing a burn, and it's sacrificing the top layer of cells to say, 'OK, they're going to die now to prevent letting the heat get farther into the body,'" Bosland said.
Some peppers, such as Dragon's Breath, are so hot, that blistering alone would not contain the heat. Rather, their capsaicin permeates the blisters and continues to activate receptors on the nerve endings underneath them, which can lead to a painful burning sensation lasting at least 20 minutes, Bosland said.
In some cases, people vomit up the pepper, as did one 47-year-old man in California who ate a burger topped with ghost pepper puree, according to a 2016 case report in the Journal of Emergency Medicine. The man vomited so violently, he ruptured his esophagus and needed medical attention, Live Science reported.
The immune system can go into overdrive if the capsaicin is too concentrated. That's because TRPV1 receptors — proteins on nerve endings that detect heat — are activated by capsaicin, and erroneously interpret capsaicin as a signal of extreme heat, Live Science reported previously. This mistake can send the body's burn defenses through the roof. [Why Does Your Nose Run When You Eat Spicy Food?]
In some cases, eating a hot pepper can lead to anaphylactic shock, severe burns and even the closing of a person's airways, which can be deadly if left untreated, according to the Post.
However, Smith didn't intend for Dragon's Breath to be part of a meal. Instead, he grew it so that it could be used as a topical numbing anesthetic for people who are allergic to regular anesthetic.
You were...........
This can’t be covered under the 2nd Amendment as the founding fathers couldn’t have thought of the pepper arms race and what that would do to society. We must ban the manufacture, sale, and import of all peppers over six Scoville units. This must be done for the children as they will eat anything.
The new danger is idiots at Lowe’s Garden Center who mislabel the plants in the pots. I bought what I thought was a mild Hungarian wax pepper plant. These things sort of look like wax peppers, but they are infinitely hotter (which came as an unwelcome surprise the first time I used one). Next time I could get one of these dragon pepper plants by mistake.
So, Pepper Sauces would be considered ‘Assault Peppers’?.....................
Peppers are notorious for crossing...my wife cut up some ‘benign’ Jimmy Nardello sweet peppers for dinner last night, and wound up with ‘burning hands’. Dinner was spicy. There are super-hots elsewhere on the property. Damn bumblebees. :-)
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Ghost Pepper Sauce.
Has an excellent flavor blend from the bourbon and pepper both. Probably not more than 800k Sco.. So it most likely won't kill you.
It WILL clean your colon out if you aren't used to hot stuff though...
A local distillery makes a gin made with ghost pepper as part of the botanical mix. No heat but a rather interesting earthy flavor.
“I can only shake my head over all this hot pepper one-upmanship.”
Now it has gone well beyond the ‘challenging but still edible’ heat levels into the ‘you will die if you try it’ range, it does seem to be getting silly. Marketing exercise to get some free publicity, I guess.
Still, perhaps they could have some uses. We could airdrop a few pounds of them over Pyongyang, see how Rocket Boy likes the taste.
I had some peppers that I grew from seed thinking they would be hot like their parents.
They turned out mild but very tasty.
If you have really good soil and they get lots of water you will have a larger milder pepper.
If the soil is poor and there less water you will get a smaller hotter pepper.
Your mileage may vary but that is what happens in my garden.
Well now, I’m gonna go and develop a pepper that has at least 5 million heat units. I’ll call it This Pepper Certifies That I am a Psycho.
I will then grind up a few of them and sprinkle the resulting powder over Ithaca, so that Behind Liberal Lines won’t have to worry about them mean liberals anymore.
But seriously, WTF is wrong with these people???
DANG!
There is no reason to create these super hot peppers. The only market is for those morons who think it hilarious to goad their drinking buddies into eating one.
No, thanks. I enjoy a little kick to some dishes but I want to enjoy the flavor of the dish rather than writhe on the ground in screaming pain.
“...ban the manufacture, sale, and import of all peppers over 6 Scoville units...”
As an added bonus, this will send many Mexican/Central American ‘immigrants’ racing back home. Some SE and South Asians too. s/
When Dave’s first came out (15 -20 years ago) I put a few drops on a teaspoon and ate it.
My diaphragm immediately started to spasm and I had the hiccups for 10 minutes.
Basically, pepper spray in a bottle for idiots to play with.
We need to ban these assault peppers ASAP. ;-)
These peppers are not grown for human consumption, but for industrial and military uses....................
Agreed. It’s time to have a rational discussion on common-sense pepper control. If even one life is saved, wouldn’t it be worth it?
Actually I got hold of a rather mild “hot pepper” in some deli chicken wings—Though I don’t like hot peppers, I ate one because there are people who sear by them for health benefits.
I used up at least a quart of milk rinsing my mouth to try and cut the heat and not have my throat burn...Yikes cannot imagine eating these super hot ones!!
I bought some Anaheim and jalapeno seed packages from Burpee. Those were the hottest things ever. Even hubby (Mr. Bring it on I can take anything!) couldn't take them. I don't think they were jalapenos. Those seeds also grew some peter peppers. It was a bit shocking to have uh, hmm, "peters" growing in the garden. Someone had fun mixing seeds at the factory.
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