Apparently, the reason superhots make so much more fire than jalapenos or habaneros is because they’re OCD. According to research at the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University, the main difference between the two groups of chiles is that superhots maximize their interior space. Much like how my roommate in college Tetris’ed everything in the apartment neatly into its own little storage compartment.
Pickling Peppers: 7 Commandments
The temperate climate and abundant sun where I live give me multiple harvests during a growing season. With 16 plants across four species, I have hundreds of peppers coming in. Pickling them is a terrific way to preserve them. Here are 7 basic rules you want to know for pickling your own.
Spicy Winter Harvest Salad
This marinated spicy salad is rather like the traditional Mexican Christmas Eve Salad and takes advantage of fall vegetables. Substitute celery for the jicama, add oranges or apples, and you have a lower-fat take on a Waldorf salad.
Hot Sauce Sales Hit New High
Earlier this week, we talked about how hot sauce has hit the mainstream market with great vengeance and furious anger, with over 50% of American homes having one flavor or another of it on hand. Statista, the Statistics Portal, says that “hot sauce sales are the eighth-fastest growing industry in the U.S. Sales were $1.07 billion in 2012 and are projected to be $1.32 billion in 2017.”
New Mexico Chiles: History Legend, and Lore
With most firsthand account books, someone dies or at the very least you get a graphic description of some horrible event, complete with gory photos. This is typically followed by a round of talk show appearances, and up until a few years ago, crying on TV in front of Oprah. You wont’ find any of that crap in this upbeat chile love letter. Unlike many eyewitness-esque works, Kelly Urig’s New Mexico Chiles: History, Legend, and Lore is a positive tribute to an icon from the writer’s childhood. Here’s what I mean…
Are Chiles and Longevity BFFs?
In the latest inconclusive scientific test alluding to the benefits of eating heat, spicy food was an indicator for longer life in over 500,000 Chinese people.
Welcome to Burn 2.0
Over the last long while, Dave DeWitt, Hans Wressnigg, and I have worked hard to create a better Burn. Not just the blog, though. We’ve grouped the Pope of Peppers’ churches closer together to give make things easier to find, update our look, and generally make for a better experience for the good folks who take the time to read the craziness that jets out of our collective psyches.