Ghost pepper ideas

So, Jean decided to spruce up our herb planter with a few more plants and came back with a ginormous ghost pepper plant with ca. 20-30 peppers already on it. My question to you worthies is what recipes can you suggest to showcase these peppers to best effect. I am loath to substitute them for habaneros, as I expect that they have quite different flavors (it's not C. chinense but rather a putative C. chinense-C. frutescens hybrid). So what recipes would you suggest for them?

Mark Lipton

I faced the same dilemma when I saw saplings for the ghost pepper aka bhoot jalokia, at a local nursery. It is considered the hottest pepper. On a Scoville scale, it registers almost a million units, while the habanero comes in at a wimpy 100,000 units. I cannot imagine any recipes where this would do anything other than completely overwhelm everything else! Maybe it could be useful in reviving corpses or warding off zombies!
-Shaji

This was informative and a fun read.

http://north-by-northside.blogspot.com/2010/10/cooking-with-feared-ghost-pepper.html

A word of caution: One must be really careful when serving food that has heat from chile peppers. I had a friend who broke out in blisters and was miserable, while I never felt the heat in the dish. I did not know she had this problem and she did not know I cooked with chile peppers.

Go to the local farmer's market and see if any of the vendors want to purchase them. For some strange reason there seems to be a market for them. An acquaintance had a bunch of these peppers a few years ago and I think the vendors gave him a buck or two for each.

Go to the local farmer's market and see if any of the vendors want to purchase them. For some strange reason there seems to be a market for them. An acquaintance had a bunch of these peppers a few years ago and I think the vendors gave him a buck or two for each.

Need any deer repellent, 'Winger?

Mark Lipton

Regarding how they would likely taste different than habeneros... Does the ghost pepper have a taste that we can perceive? It seems that something 10x hotter than habenero would have to be diluted as hell to be edible, and any flavor component might be too diluted to matter at that point.

It seems that something 10x hotter than habenero would have to be diluted as hell to be edible...

You could neutralize some capsaicin with yogurt for instance. That might work. Volunteers?

Regarding how they would likely taste different than habeneros... Does the ghost pepper have a taste that we can perceive? It seems that something 10x hotter than habenero would have to be diluted as hell to be edible, and any flavor component might be too diluted to matter at that point.

It all comes down to one's tolerance for capsaicin. I can comfortably eat very spicy food, so I find distinct taste differences between various pepper types, such as Jalapeño/Serrano vs. Habanero vs. Cayenne. I don't know if the ghost pepper is so hot that I'd have to dilute it beyond the point of getting its taste, but I suspect I'll find out.

Mark Lipton

I faced the same dilemma when I saw saplings for the ghost pepper aka bhoot jalokia, at a local nursery. It is considered the hottest pepper. On a Scoville scale, it registers almost a million units, while the habanero comes in at a wimpy 100,000 units. I cannot imagine any recipes where this would do anything other than completely overwhelm everything else! Maybe it could be useful in reviving corpses or warding off zombies!
-Shaji

Nowadays, Shaji, the ghost pepper has been eclipsed by the Jamaican Scorpion pepper (or so says the font of all knowledge, Wikipedia)

Mark Lipton

No idea. However, have you tried the flesh of the pepper without any seeds or membrane? I found that I love the flavor of habanero and often use it this way to get the flavor without the heat. Do it right and there is not much heat at all. I would try this first to see if it even had a flavor I liked.

If I was looking for a way to use it for the first time I would probably dice up one without seeds or membrane and add it to a caramelizing onion. Then if the flavor is ok use them in a curry or on a burger or something.

Nowadays, Shaji, the ghost pepper has been eclipsed by the Jamaican Scorpion pepper (or so says the font of all knowledge, Wikipedia)

Mark Lipton

Thanks Mark. I just read that. "Eclipsed" seems to be the mot just!
Also GeoCWeyer just posted on his growing both the varieties. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=48689

I got some ghost pepper extract from David Rosenblum last year to try in recipes that call for heat. I've used it in chili and hot wings. Just a few drops ramps up the heat quite a bit over the "normal" recipe. I'm not brave enough to try it on it's own. I haven't been able to discern any changes to the flavor profile of the dishes - just the added heat.