DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Carolina Reapers

So, way back in the spring, I went to the plant nursery with my wife. She wanted to get legitimate gardening stuff and I was just the plant hauler. I came across a Carolina Reaper plant for $5 so I thought eh, what the hell…

Now they’re actually ripe and I don’t know what the hell to do with them. Any suggestions?

Just toss them in here, buddy. If do anything besides that, you're going to wish you tossed them in here...

My neighbor grows them. I know they are beyond hot. I won't eat them anymore. Maybe you can make a hot sauce or salsa out of them if you enjoy that type of thing.

Haha, I have a bunch of nephews who are in the "bro" phase (16-21). I'm thinking about making a hot sauce for Thanksgiving and just "seeing what happens."

Have you tried them before, Vers? What was it like, if you did? I tried a pinhead size of pureed reapers a few years back and that was enough. It didn't feel hot through the sinus cavity like a jalapeno would, but it did feel like someone lit a match on that specific area of my tongue and just kept it there.

I imagine I will probably have to go the hot sauce/salsa route. Like I mentioned, might do so at TG, and see what happens

Yeah, I tried them once. Just a small bite. Too hot for me. But, some people like that stuff. I do know those are extraordinarily hot even for people who like hot stuff. LOL at making the hot sauce for a Tailgate. That's brutal, bro.

DL05, this should help. https://tinyurl.com/CarolinaReaperRecipes

Wear latex gloves when handling them

I actually wear a face shield when I handle ghost peepers

and the Carolina reaper is hotter

Cut it up in very small pieces and add it to tomato puree with garlic and vinegar. I use Balsamic

If you have a juicer, juice some carrots onions and limes

add that carefully and find a mix that you like (carefully of course)

Start your day off with a dot or two on eggs and hash browns

You'll be thankful !

you'll miss a Browns beating

LOL !

There’s a video of the dude from The Hot Ones eating a Carolina Reaper and it pretty much does him in. He’s a “pro” too.

I like spicy food, but I don't need my food trying to kill me.

And I don't need to prove myself to anyone.

I also enjoy some spice ...... but I have smelled some stuff that smells like it would peel paint if left inside a closed room. No thanks.

I would never bite a ghost scorpion or reaper

wouldn't even touch one without gloves on

Using a very very small amount with some other ingredients

will make for a nice upper level hot sauce

a dot or two no more

will bring some nice heat on

My buddy grows them, and ghost peppers. He smokes both in his smoker. Then dries them and grinds them into powder. I have a small container of his dried smoked ghost peppers. I add a very small amount to BBQ sauces, stir fries, and such. Great smoky flavor, and when used in proper amounts, great heat.

Outside of this preparation I just can see using a crops worth of any pepper that hot.

well, you grew them, so you HAVE to try eating at least one

After that, de-stem them, slice 'em in half, and drop them in a jug of white vinegar and add a bunch of pickling or kosher salt. Let it steep for about 6 months, then puree with a wand mixer, add a little brown sugar, cumin, garlic, and maybe even some orange blossom flavoring. Voila! A tasty hot sauce.

They ARE bad.
I have grown hot peppers for well over a decade now. My garden usually has a Who's Who of the world's Top 10 hottest peppers. I was growing ghost peppers (bhut jolokia and dorset nagas) before most people had ever heard of them. I actually had the Dorset Naga seeds imported from the cultivar creator in Dorset, England. The bhut jolokia seeds came from the Chili Pepper Institute (New Mexico State University). I've eaten a whole pepper from every new variety I've ever grown, without milk/bread/whatever, and I can tell you that the Reaper is LEGIT.

The Dorset Naga lit the whole mouth on fire, and it continued to get hotter for twenty straight minutes. I literally felt like I was breathing fire. I had flop sweats.
The Reaper is hotter. The one thing going for it though was that it didn't seem to be the all-encompassing heat the Naga had, or I had just acclimated to that next level of Hell... I'm not sure. Also, the Reaper's pain didn't last as long. Maybe 15 minutes, tops, before it plateaued. More intense, but shorter lived.

The worst thing I've ever tried is that damned Gummy Bear challenge. I didn't chew it, I just held it in my mouth for like 15 minutes while we were all opening presents on Christmas (it was a "gift" from my oldest brother), but then I had to put it in the garbage.

That's what my neighbor does. I don't know the exact process in making the powder, but I looked up a recipe to how to make the powder. 05 might be interested:

https://www.sandiaseed.com/blogs/news/carolina-reaper-powder-recipe

J/C

If a pepper actually makes a dish better, great. If the idea is to simply make a dish hotter, any idiot can make a dish hot. If the goal is to create something with millions of Scoville units, what's the point if nobody but a rare few like it? Maybe win a T-shirt in some idiotic contest?

I'm pretty sure there is a Venn diagram with a pretty big overlap between Browns fans and masochists.

Save them in the freezer. Then, put a single slice in one, toss it in your pot of chili/soup/spaghetti sauce. Instant heat, but not overpowering.

Outside of that, I can't help you. Too hot for me- and I like hot stuff.

Oooh, I like this idea.

I love spices to the extent that they accentuate the taste of the food I'm eating. An added flavor profile per say. As for myself once something is so hot or spicy that it overwhelms the flavor of the food itself it lost it's ability to serve its purpose. Carolina Reapers are one such example. But hey, some people love things like that. To each their own.