Hot Shots Blog

Chile Pepper Fun Facts - Bolivian Rainbow Pepper 

The colors of the rainbow... Just like Skittles!!

The Bolivian Rainbow Pepper is a beautiful rainbow variety of chili peppers that will a pop of color to any garden or dish. The small naturally bushy plant produces hundreds of small, teardrop shaped, hot chilies that start life creamy, turn purple, then golden, then orange and finally fire-engine red!

Small fruits turn from purple to yellow and then to red when mature. All colors are on the plant at once in a showy rainbow of peppers. The peppers are edible, too, make them into hot sauce, to flavor soups or stews, or add spice to other dishes like burritos, tacos or enchiladas.

Ornamental peppers are truly beautiful – from the onyx-like Black Pearl to the colorful Bolivian Rainbow. But are the fruits of these plants more than just window dressing? Can you eat ornamental peppers or are they just for show. The good news: ornamental peppers are safe to eat.

Hot Sauce Fun Fact - Hot Sauce Collectors Dream 

Rare and hard to find collectable hot sauces can get pretty expensive...

Take Blair's Caldera Reserve, 6oz.: Standing Almost a Foot Tall and Topped with Italian Platinum Wax resin and a 24k Gold Dipped Skull for example. Over a year in the making......Each bottle of Caldera Contains 6 oz Ounces of Special Capsaicin Oils!

Caldera contains (3) three 2oz bottles in 1. The bottom bottle is 1,500,000 Scoville Units, the middle bottle is 5,000,000 Scoville Units, and the top bottle is approx. between 10,000,000 and 13,000,000 Scoville Units! If you look at the very top of the bottle you can actually see the Pure Capsaicin Crystals suspended in the oil! This makes the Ultimate Blair's Collectible.

PLEASE NOTE: CALDERA CONTAINS VERY RARE OILS. THESE OILS ARE SENSITIVE AND MUST BE PROTECTED FROM SUNLIGHT, TEMPERATURE CHANGES AS WELL AS TEMPERATURES OVER 86F DEGREES. IDEAL STORAGE TEMPERATURE IS 72F AND ALWAYS STORE UPRIGHT.

The collectable market fluctuates, this collector's dream has been seen selling as high as $5,000 at Jungle Jim's International Market in Ohio. Would you pay that for a hot sauce?

Chile Pepper Fun Fact - Natural Black Seeds 

There are only a few Chile Peppers that actually have black seeds naturally. One of them is a Manzano and another is the Rocoto Pepper.

The Manzano pepper is one of the exceptions. Its apple-like shape hints at fruity, and it doesn’t disappoint with a refreshing citrus flavor. This fruitiness, along with the chile’s thick walls and tempting medium-heat (12,000 to 30,000 Scoville Heat Units), makes the Manzano a superb salsa chili. That is, when you can find it. The Manzano can be challenging to grow outside of its native cool climate, the Andes, and because of this, it can be tough to find for those outside of Mexico and South America.

The Rocoto pepper (a.k.a. Locoto pepper) may resemble a Bell Pepper in shape, but underneath the hood it’s one chili that’s full of surprises. There’s juiciness and meatiness to this chile – more akin to a tomato than a pepper – that’s set ablaze with surprising heat. The Rocoto can top out at Habanero level spiciness (30,000 to 100,000 Scoville Heat Units), and that often catches eaters by surprise. It’s a unique culinary experience that’s a critical ingredient to both Peruvian and Bolivian cuisines.

Chile Pepper Fun Fact - Birds Help Disperse Chile Seeds

New research illustrates how birds help to produce rare wild chili peppers... 

A new study involving Iowa State University researchers explores how a mutualistic, or mutually beneficial, relationship between birds and chili peppers in the Mariana Islands helps chili peppers grow in the wild. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Ecological Applications, shows biodiversity can lead to indirect benefits for humans, said Haldre Rogers, an assistant professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology. The study was led by Monika Egerer, a graduate student at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Rogers was a co-author, along with Evan Fricke, an ISU postdoctoral research associate.

Fricke said gut passage separates the seeds from the pulp of the chili plants, which improves the likelihood of germination when the seeds settle on the ground. In addition, the researchers found a statistically significant improvement in seed germination separate from pulp removal in seeds passed through a local species of starling. The finding suggests passage through starlings provides some other benefit to the performance of the chili seeds, though identifying the cause wasn’t in the scope of the experiments, Fricke said. In fact, the name of the pepper plants includes the word ‘sali,’ which is the local name for the Micronesian starling. 

The island of Guam, which lost its native bird population due to the introduction of an invasive predatory snake after World War II, further illustrates the importance of the mutualistic relationship between birds and the chili plants. Without birds to disperse the seeds, the researchers found much lower chili populations on Guam compared to the other Mariana Islands.

The research team chose to focus on the chili plants in question because of the unique social significance the people of the Mariana Islands place on them. Fricke said the harvested chili plants provide a source of income as well as a delicious ingredient for spicy foods. Fricke said many local residents claim that this type of chili plant is difficult to cultivate, and that cultivated plants don’t pack the same spicy punch as wild plants. 

Fricke said public awareness of the importance of pollinating insects in growing crops and other important plants has increased in recent years, while appreciation for other mutualistic interactions such as seed dispersal lags behind. He said he hopes studies like this one begin to turn the tide.

“This study teaches us about a mutualism that directly benefits people and should bolster our reasons to care about conserving biodiversity,” he said. “The loss of a bird in Guam, for instance, can cascade into a negative impact for people who like to eat these spicy chilies.” 

Without these intricate mutualistic relationships, ecosystems suffer – and so might your cooking.

Chile Pepper Fun Fact - The Bird's Eye Pepper 

The tiny Bird’s Eye Chile originated in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, The Philippines, and surrounding countries, but they can now be found all over the world. They are presumably called Bird’s Eye Chile because of their small round shape and because they have been spread by birds, which are not affected by the heat of the peppers. 

The Chiltepin pepper in North America is also known by the same name, and for the same reasons, but it is a different pepper altogether. 

The Bird’s Eye are generally red at maturity, but may also be yellow, purple or black. They are very popular in cuisine from the areas mentioned above, and with heat almost similar to a habanero, they add quite a punch to many types of dishes, including pastas, soups, sauces, dips, and more. 

Bird's eye chilies range from 50,000 to 100,000 Scoville Heat Units on the Scoville Scale. Compare this to a typical jalapeno pepper, which averages 5,000 SHU, and the bird's eye pepper is anywhere from 10 to 20 times hotter. That's quite a lot of heat! 

Bird's eye peppers are used extensively in Thai cuisine as well as the cuisines of many countries around Thailand. They truly pack a punch and have an excellent flavor. I've grown these pods in my garden a few times now and the plants are always productive. Because of the number of peppers, their good level of heat, and their vibrant color, these peppers are ideal for making hot sauces, chile pastes, salsas, or for dehydrating and grinding into chile flakes or chile powders. They're also good for stir fries or adding to salads and soups.

Chile Pepper Fun Fact - Largest Chile Pepper Variety

What is the biggest Chile Pepper there is?

(NuMex Heritage Big Jim) Big Jim smashes world records for largest chili pepper variety, with mammoth pods that reach a whopping 1 foot in length. The perfect pepper for chiles rellenos, grilling or stuffing, Big Jim delivers a perfect medium heat, a bit milder than an average jalapeño.

The Big Jim pepper is a New Mexico chile pepper cultivar of the species Capsicum annuum with a Scoville rating of mild. This cultivar is extensively grown in New Mexico where it was developed and is popular in New Mexican cuisine. Big Jim peppers are both sweet and mild and are normally picked while still green. The fruits are large and thick walled, often exceeding over a foot in length, and they are almost exclusively used to produce roasted green chile in New Mexican cuisine.

Chile Pepper Fun Fact - Chile Peppers as a Treatment for Cancer

Chile peppers could be the secret ingredient for beating all forms of cancer...

It’s no secret that chili peppers give many meals their spicy kick. Now, a new study is looking at the best way to use this ingredient as a treatment for cancer. Researchers at Marshall University say capsaicin — the substance which gives chili peppers their hot and spicy taste — can also keep multiple forms of cancer from growing.

The biggest hurdle scientists have to overcome, however, is finding the best way of delivering capsaicin to patients. Researchers say their report is the first to examine sustained release formulations of capsaicin as an anti-cancer drug. These delivery methods include solid dispersion systems, liposomes, phospholipid complexes, and nanoparticles.

The team found that capsaicin displayed an ability to significantly stifle the growth of a wide range of human cancers. Previous studies have also found that the chili pepper compound could serve as a key weapon in the fight against lung cancer.

However, the team also found giving patients capsaicin in more traditional ways (like pills) has a number of factors working against it. Along with showing a poor ability to absorb into the human body, a capsaicin pill is literally too hot for some patients to handle.

“Oral use of capsaicin is associated with unfavorable side effects such as stomach cramps, nausea, a burning sensation in the gut and gastrointestinal irritation,” says Professor of Biomedical Sciences Monica Valentovic, Ph.D. “A strategy to overcome these drawbacks is the development of different delivery systems, such as encapsulating capsaicin in long-acting sustained release drug delivery systems could allow for more consistent capsaicin levels that could be more efficient as anti-cancer agents.”

Hot Sauce Fun Fact - Hot sauce is an aphrodisiac

Hot sauce is an aphrodisiac — the capsaicin is reputed to have strong powers when it comes to the language of love. Skip the chocolates next time and give your date a bottle of Hot Sauce. 

Most spicy foods undeniably contain chemical properties that will wake up your senses and raise your body temperature. That said, no food can truly be hailed as an all-powerful love potion. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially maintains that support for aphrodisiacs in general is 100% unscientific, the anecdotal evidence is certainly nothing to bat an eye at, either. 

 At the end of the day, how capsaicin affects your mood is largely determined by your body chemistry and individual taste. After all, arousal is more psychological than physical. So, if you love the way hot sauce tastes, there’s a fairly good chance it will spice things up for you in the bedroom, too. Bow Chica Wow Wow...

Hot Sauce Fun Fact - Kumache Sauce 

Venezuelan Hot Sauce Has a Secret Ingredient: Ants & Termites

Most people go all over the world to try as many different kinds of hot sauce they can get their hands on. Whether it's spicy, tangy, sweet, or savory, half the fun is in trying a completely new flavor. So how about one made from ants and termites?

According to National Geographic, there's a hot sauce made in a remote Venezuelan visage that features just that.

In Kumarakapay, villagers make a special hot sauce they call kumache. While the base of kumache is made from yucca and hot peppers, what makes it special is the finishing ingredient of red ants and termites.

Before finishing the sauce, natives go out and break up ant hills to harvest the insects by hand so that they're as fresh as possible.

The villagers have been making the special hot sauce for years, selling it to tourists looking to try something new and bold. However, the production of kumache is very limited, because yucca too expensive to harvest.

Hot Sauce Fun Fact - Ajika Sauce 

Ajika is a Georgian-Abkhazian hot, spicy, but subtly flavored sauce, often used to flavor food or as a dip. In 2018, the technology of ajika was inscribed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Georgia list, Intangible cultural heritage are elements of the cultural heritage of Georgia which are abstract and must be learned, encompassing traditional knowledge including festivals, music, performances, celebrations, handicrafts, and oral traditions. 

The name derives from the Abkhaz word аџьыка "salt". The Abkhazian variant of ajika is based on a boiled preparation of hot red peppers, garlic, herbs, and spices such as coriander, dill, blue fenugreek (only found in mountain regions such as the Alps or the Caucasus), salt, and walnut. A dry form of ajika exists that looks like small red clumps mixed with a looser version of the spice mixture. Home-made ajika is available from many market stalls in the Caucasus and in the Krasnodar Krai of Russia. Tomatoes are not an ingredient of traditional ajika, though different versions of ajika, sometimes having tomatoes or tomato paste as an ingredient, are produced on a commercial scale and sold in supermarkets in Russia and Ukraine. 

Common varieties of ajika resemble Italian red pesto in appearance and consistency. Though it is usually red, green ajika is also made with unripe peppers.