Hot Chips and Curls

[Bogy]

I had thought as I got older I couldn't eat things as hot as when I was younger. I may be wrong. Yesterday I had a confirmation class, and one of the kids had a bag of Blue Heat Takis, which I had never heard of. He offered me one, and while I thought it had a little kick, it wasn't real hot, in my estimation. The kid and his cousin warned me it was really hot, and got me a glass of water before I ate it. (I already had my own mug of ice water, but I appreciated her concern.)

So today I looked up how hot the Takis are on the Scoville scale. 8,000 to 9,000 units.
I've been eating Flamin' Hot Cheetos and Flamin' Hot Doritos, so I looked those up.
The Cheetos are around 50,000 units and the Doritos are...hard to say. There are of course many iterations of the Doritos (and Cheetos & etc) but just the "regular" from what I can find is a little tricky. From what I can find, most of the chips are only about 2,000 to 3,000 Scoville units, but one chip out of a handful will be 78,000 units. So, what this means is that these kids could in no way handle my chili!

I know that even 78,000 units is not that hot, but 10,000 for sure isn't.

So, next week I think I'll bring a bag of Flamin' hot Cheetos to the class and introduce them to something really hot. Maybe I'll mix in a few hot Cheetos with some regular. Would that be mean?

[ofelles]

If you have to ask if it's mean..........I think you already know the answer.

[CaptainMike]

Mean, for sure, but in a hilarious way!

[Donw]

When the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations calls concerning the complaints just say it was a lesson on what the children can expect in Hell.😇

[Bkhuna]

Just self identify as a Ghost Pepper and tell them that they must tolerate your Scoville level.

[Mosca]

Bogy

1) 50,000 for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos? No way. After reading that I looked it up, too, and the most quoted source gives no references and is pretty suspect IMO. My guess would be an order of magnitude lower, like around 5000. Or even lower; it is a commercially branded, widely available product that a 4 year old might mistakenly eat. Same with the Doritos.

2) A year or so ago I thought the same thing, about how I must be getting acclimated to really hot foods, so I looked that up, too. And it turns out that as most people get older, like past 60, their taste buds are pretty much shot for that kind of thing! I figure that isn’t really any different than getting more acclimated, or than whatever reason I’m more able to eat spicer foods than I used to be is.

I certainly enjoy it as much as ever, up to a point. The tiny Reaper I ate a few days ago, that wasn’t fun at all, not even a little bit. But I’m still all in up to about 100,000 Scovilles, give or take, with a sweet spot at maybe 50k. Sometimes the lower peppers will blast you, then fade quickly, while the higher peppers don’t hit as hard but the burn lasts a lot longer. I like the blast and fade better. (The Reaper blasted and did not fade.)

3) PM me your address and I’ll send you a bottle of Melinda’s Naga Jolokia and one of Melinda’s Scorpion. Those are pretty hot. Then you can just let the kids dab them onto the chips, and we’ll see what they think of that.

[texastweeter]

Melinda's dosed each bite of my Mexican bean and quinoa soup tonight. Good stuff.

[Bogy]

I now have some liquid fire, courtesy of Mosca
Tomorrow I'll challenge the kids. See if any of them is willing to try some!

[Mosca]

Bogy Yesterday I tasted the Naga Jolokia sauce next to a Thai pepper, they’re about the same. So, 50-100000 Scovilles? I’d estimate that the sauce itself is about 10% pepper. Having taken a bite of Reaper (a bad idea, I will reiterate), that seems about right.

That’s pretty hot, IMO. People get caught up in the bigger numbers, but folks don’t process orders of magnitude like they should. Especially people who are used to the hot stuff. 10x is a LOT more than 2x. By an order of magnitude.

[Bogy]

Like Mosca I wondered about some of the ratings I found. That's why the possibility of a few really hot chips in a bag made more sense than the whole bag being that hot. My own guess is that the Takis are not really anywhere close to 8000 units. Maybe 1500.

It certainly is true that taste changes as people age. Not just when you get past 60, or whatever age, but how things taste to a five year old compared to their 30 year old parent. Things my grandchildren wouldn't touch three years ago our now on their favorites list. Restaurants have to decide who their market is. Are you trying to attract the five or ten year old who will badger their parents into taking them to the desired fast food outlet (which of course involves not only the food, but the happy meal prize, all of which must be collected) or are you trying to attract the moms and dads or the old people who don't have to worry about what kids want?

Which also reminds me that I didn't place in the wing category at the local BBQ contest last year. Couldn't compete this year because of a funeral. But I figure the problem was I went to mild. Next year I'll either place or I'll get my revenge when they bite into that wing.

Should I get a waiver before they bite into that Ghost Pepper coated wing? Maybe that one in the other thread about anal leakage?

[STEbbq]

I hate Cheetos so I am not going to be a test taker but the same argument that applies to why no spicy chicken sandwich from major fast-food chains is really spicy applies here. I think you need to get some Flatiron flakes Bogy and get that 450,000 units coursing through your veins buddy.

[texastweeter]

Let me send you some smoked ghost pepper dust or reaper dust to finish them with, lol

[Mosca]

Bogy Since you are in a position of authority, you should tread lightly, with plenty of warning. Teenage hormones run high. Have some ice cream at hand.

[ssandy_561]

Buy a bottle of this and dare all the kids to try it.



It’s officially only 135,600 scoville units but it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever eaten (And for some dumb reason I’ve eaten it 6 times).

Just make sure you record their reactions. 😂

[STEbbq]

Whatever “chip” and “sauce” you go with Bogy, consider how much you’d be expanding their horizons. You are doing a good thing showing them the diversity of flavors available. And you know, get some pics for posterity.

[texastweeter]

Get a bag of domino's and hide a Paqui one chip challenge in it. Take turns eating a chip without looking until somebody "wins".

[Bogy]

Cracked open the bottles of Malinda's sauces. I figured I should try them myself before I gave them to the kids, so I put a modest amount on each bite of my Wednesday Tongue Burrito. Alternating the Naga Jolokia with the Scorpion. IMHO, the Naga Jolokia actually tasted hotter than the Scorpion. Might have been because I gave myself a more liberal dose of that than the Scorpion, probably due to fear. I thought both of them were good. I didn't put a lot on, and both of them complemented the burrito.



So, on to the confirmation class. I took the advice Mosca gave me and brought along some ice cream along with some chips and the sauces. I dished up the ice cream before I handed out the chips. I put a few drops on the chips, because I didn't want any severe reactions, especially after one of the girls asked if this might have an adverse affect on her asthma. They all tried both of the sauces, and even did several chips with a few drops of each. The picture below is not actually one of my confirmation students. He's the son of the gal who runs our Wednesday afternoon church school program. He comes to help out, but spends a lot of time hanging out with the class. He's 20, but is a little challenged and he's at about the emotional/educational level of the kids. He also tried the sauces. One of his cousins filled up a teaspoon with a mix of the sauces and challenged him to eat it. In the picture he is eating all of the ice cream that was left. Also pictured is another of his cousins. Small town, lots of people are related.

[Mosca]

Good stuff, innit? Hot enough to wake you up, but not so hot as to make you question reality. And it has good flavor.

[Spinaker]

Takis are amazing when you grind/blend then really fine and use them to bread some chicken wings, thighs etc. Then you deep fry those babies. So good. Even better than the Flaming Hot Cheetos.

[Huskee]

I think Blue Takis are darn close to Flamin' Hot Cheetos (heatwise), but I've never done a side by side. I like them all! I used to hate spicy food.