In my quest to find more heat for my chili I have been going in circles until I finally found the answers I was seeking. Eventhough I want to give my chili more heat I still want it to be able to be eaten without a trip to the emergency room. I haven’t screwed with my original recipe for chili since 2002 when I began adding Ghost Peppers (Bhut Jolokia) to it for increased heat. If y’all want to see what my chili has to offer then y’all will need to follow the link to my Diablo Scorpion Chili recipe and read up on it. Don’t forget to come back to finish reading here. Over the years I have provided the scale pictured below when people taste my Diablo Scorpion Chili for the first time. Most people rate the heat somewhere between Blistering (the lowest) and Scorching (the highest) but I have always wanted to create a chili even hotter. So, I set off in a quest of sorts to be able to experiment with new heat. Unfortunately, the three (3) additional peppers I found (they chose me by the way) only were able to be purchased in seed form which meant I would have to add them to my collection of items I grow just for the Diablo Scorpion Chili. After some trial and error I was able to grow all three of my new pepper varieties, the Tears of Fire pepper, the Trinidad Scorpion pepper, and the Morgua Scorpion pepper. Although they are not ready (ripe) for the picking just yet I have been having a hard time not thinking about how they will be introduced into my existing chili. Then I had a thought, why not just evolve my current chili into a new species and call it the Tears Of The Scorpion Chili. I’m not sold on the name yet, but for now it will work. I need to have a virtual contest of sorts to help me pick a name. No prize, just a mention for your effort.
My goal is to take my heat level up to “Nuclear” yet still keep the flavor and keep it where it can still be consumed by the average human. I have contacted four commercial “labs” inquiring if my chili can be tested using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to find the actual Scoville Heat Units (SHU) that exists. All four wrote back to me and said it is possible. All they need me to do is provide them with my food handlers license for Texas, proof of restaurant location, list of per gram weight of each item in my chili, provide a check or money order in advance in the amounts of $8,373.87 (low bid) to $17,411.56 (high bid), and a dehydrated sample of no less than 1814.37 grams (4lbs) of the “food” to be sampled. So, I will have to find another way because I get asked the approximate SHU value when I occasionally compete making my chili from scratch in chili cook offs which I have to follow CASI rules. Something I have never won 1st place in, but have placed and taken home money for. But I don’t make my chili to compete with other people making chili. I make my chili for friends and family mostly, well, that is, for those who are still brave enough to keep eating it over the years. On the plus side it hasn’t killed anyone yet or sent anyone to the hospital. However, I know a few who were wishing for death a time or two or seven since the current peppers I use range from 5,000 to 1,131,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
Soon I will be able to harvest my new peppers and start having a little fun. Have I ever mentioned that I do not eat my own chili? I don’t even taste it, ever. Why? First of all I don’t actually care for chili and second, since I make it I know what’s in it, therefore, I’m no dumbass. With that being said, I have offered my Diablo Scorpion Chili recipe for a few years now on my blogs, free for the taking, all I have ever asked is that people tell me what they think after they make it. Over time there has been 146 brave souls who have made it (or a toned down version), consumed it, and have reported back to me. So, look forward to seeing my evolved version of chili using my new ingredients. I’m still shopping for a name, well, not actually shopping, more like picking some brains for ideas. If I don’t get any bites I will probably just roll with Tears Of The Scorpion Chili. If you want to help you can comment here or e-mail Scorpion Sting with your ideas.
The Sting Of The Scorpion Blog (T.S.O.T.S.B.) 