Blair Lazar: to taste his sauce is to experience ‘pure heat’
Posted on 05/07/2005 7:07:19 PM PDT by saquin
"We live in an extreme world," explains Blair Lazar, a hot sauce creator. "And I make extreme foods.' In his hands is the hottest spice in the world, an ultra-refined version of chilli powder so fiery that customers must sign a waiver absolving him of any liability if they are foolish enough to try it.
Locked in a crystal flask sealed with wax and a tiny skull, Mr Lazar's mouth-blistering concoction is pure capsaicin - the chemical that lends habanero and jalapeno peppers their thermo nuclear heat.
Blair Lazar: to taste his sauce is to experience ‘pure heat’ His "16 Million Reserve", which is released to the public this week, is the holy grail of hot sauces, the hottest that chemistry can create.
It is 30 times hotter than the spiciest pepper, the Red Savina from Mexico, and 8,000 times stronger than Tabasco sauce. To put the tiniest speck on the tip of your tongue is to experience "pure heat", Mr Lazar says.
Although capsaicin does not actually burn - it fools your brain into thinking that you are in pain by stimulating nerve endings in your mouth - some medical experts believe that it could kill an asthmatic or hospitalise a user who touched his eyes or other sensitive parts of the anatomy.
Mr Lazar has trained his palate to endure the sensation, but he remembers the moment he dared to taste his "16 Million Reserve".
"The pain was exquisite," he said. "It was like having your tongue hit with a hammer. Man, it hurt. My tongue swelled up and it hurt like hell for days."
The eye-watering qualities of peppers are measured in internationally recognised Scoville units, developed by Wilbur Scoville, an American chemist who, in 1912, asked tasters to evaluate how many parts of sugar water it took to neutralise capsaicin heat.
Today, capsaicin content is measured in parts per million, using a process known as high-performance liquid chromatography; one part being equivalent to 15 Scoville units. Benign bell peppers rate zero Scoville units and the Red Savina entered Guinness World Records at 570,000 units.
Pure capsaicin, meanwhile, has a heat score of 16 million units - inspiring the name for Mr Lazar's latest creation. Each of the 999 limited-edition bottles, priced at $199 (£105), contains just a few crystals. The powder is so strong, however, that Mr Lazar estimates that it would have to be dissolved in 250,000 gallons of water before it could no longer be tasted.
His career as a hot sauce creator began when he found that the best way to clear drunks out of his seaside bar was to give them free chicken wings dipped in an eye-watering home-made hot sauce.
Now he runs Extreme Foods in New Jersey, selling his existing range, including "Mega Death" and "Jersey Death", the latter, according to Mr Lazar, being the world's hottest usable condiment.
He keeps a fridge full of iced spring water in his office for those brave enough to try some. Most tasters sweat heavily and are unable to see for tears for up to half an hour.
It takes several tons of fresh peppers to produce 1lb of capsaicin for the 16 Million Reserve, and the work takes months. First, moisture is removed from the fresh peppers until a thick tar-like substance remains.
The means by which all further impurities are eliminated, leaving pure capsaicin powder, is a trade secret, but the work takes place in a laboratory where Mr Lazar and his team wear sealed suits with masks to avoid inhaling the dust.
Five years ago Mr Lazar created "2am Reserve" in honour of the hour at which he once closed his bar. It was hotter than any other chilli product on the market, measuring up to 900,000 Scoville units.
He then distilled even stronger chilli extracts, including the scorching "6am Reserve" at 10 million units. Most of the signed and numbered bottles of "16 Million Reserve" will be bought by aficionados known as chilli heads.
Buyers have to sign a disclaimer warning that any handling "must be under a controlled environment using protective gloves and safety eye wear".
"It shouldn't be used for flavour," says Mr Lazar. "The only function is its heat value." He prefers not to speculate on what might happen should anyone be foolish enough to down an entire bottle. Rinsing the mouth with milk is among the best remedies as the capsaicin binds to fat molecules; it will also dissolve in alcohol.
Internet sites such as the hot sauce weblog and sweatnspice.com have been abuzz with talk about this week's release, with many collectors planning to buy at least two bottles - one to display and the other to try.
But one chilli head who obtained an early sample dropped a single grain into a pan of tomato soup. After persuading his wife to try a spoonful, he reported that: "She threatened divorce once she could speak again.''
Blair Lazar: to taste his sauce is to experience ‘pure heat’
ping
We in the desert SW put this kind of stuff on our eggs in the morning...
...the other stuff, sounds like something to sprinkle on our chips as a snack.
No, that is the second worst thing. The first is going to the restroom without washing your hands first. Found that one out when I was a kid after slicing jalepenos for my mom and then taking a potty break.
I do know of this, from someone I cooked with in a chili cookoff years ago.
He mistakenly had to use the "facilities" after preparing the chili with mucho habeneros. He apparently didn't wash his hands off enough, before having to go.
Needless to say, all of the ice in the ice chest was melted in no time.
'nuff said.
"These super hot sauces and peppers are ridiculous. What you do is add more of a good, relatively low heat, hot sauce or chili peppers to the recipe."
Good point. Now the question is, what sauces actually taste good and have a good kick? For example, I like Tobasco (red and green), your basic Louisiana style hot sauces (like Red Rooster and such), Red-Hot and X-tra hot Red-Hot, and Sriracha chile sauce, but find them all fairly mild in heat. I've had some carribean-style hot sauces that were a lot hotter, based on, I guess, haberneros or scotch bonnets, but I'm not really all that keen on the taste of them. I've had some hot jerk-type sauces that were pretty good, though.
And good tasty suggestions?
I had suspected that, knowing that the "chile" pepper family was only indigenous to the new world. Funny how quick some cultures (don't forget Vietnamese, Korean and several others) took to them, though. Given that westerners basically ran the spice trade for the last several hundred years, I don't no why most western cultures haven't taken to highly seasoned food more than they have until fairly recently. I love all that stuff.
Pardon me, but no matter how effective that sounds, I'll stick to my Vick's Inhalor to clear MY sinuses, thank you very much!
Darn chemical warfare, it sounds like. Leave me out.
Getting habanero pepper juice on your fingers prior to a trip to men's room can be serious mistake. A peppered willy is something you don't easily forget.
Hot peppers first came to Asia via Goa... Portuguese colony
Sriracha chile sauce, but find them all fairly mild in heat.....
I love that sauce and eat Vietnamese pho with it. That's as hot as I need these days and I can eat a decent amount of that sauce. With all due respect man need not go much hotter than that. My favorite hot pepper powder is circa 30,000 scoville with a nice deep red *real* color. I just use more of it for hotter. Go to Frontier Herbs for good hot pepper powders
That' Nuts!
I went to a Mexican restuarant and asked for some hot sauce. They first gave me some kind of house blend which was nothing I cared for (the wimpy stuff they give the regular folks I guess ). I asked again for something with "a bit more kick" and this is what they gave me. I loved it !! I asked to take the bottle home after dinner and they said no problem.
Funny thing was they warned me it was very hot and seemed concerend about even giving the sauce to me at first. But after a quick taste test, I just shook my head and smiled. They eased up after that. : )"
Hahaha that's funny because something similar happened to me. I was in a very authentic Mexican restaurant and one of my friends asked the waiter for some "hot sauce." My friend made a shaking motion with his hand (like shaking a bottle) so I figured they would bring him some Tabasco sauce. (I was wrong!) He tasted it and described how incredibly hot it was. As a lover of spicy food I had to try it. I dipped the tip of my fork in a small amount and when it hit my tongue I was shocked at how good (flavorful and hot) it was. I thought to myself, what b***s on this waiter bringing that to a customer. This is MY kind of restaurant! Hehe. They let him take the bottle home. I eventually found it online at a Mexican grocery store and ordered some, then luckily I found it cheaper in a local Albertson's grocery store. I don't bother to keep mine in the fridge, because I suspect no bacteria could ever survive in it!
A friend of mine didn't wash his hands after cutting jalapenos. Later that night, he touched his wife in a very intimate place. It launched her right out of bed and into the cooling water of the bathtub.
No wonder AZ is such an arid place.
My trip to AZ has posponed until this fall. ; )
Okay, but why?
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