World’s Hottest Pepper? originally uploaded by Casey Hussein Bisson
Last night I officially began a mission, a mission to locate the world’s hottest pepper somewhere in the MSP metro, preferably in the South Metro. Unfortunately, as of yet, I am 0-2. But I didn’t go away empty handed! I learned that some of the ethnic groceries, which seem almost too prevalent across the South Metro, are a great resource when you are looking to increase your knowledge of ethnic home cooking.
My first stop was to Desi Foods in Eagan. Desi Foods is an Indian grocery store with locations in Apple Valley (in Times Square near McDonald’s) and Eagan (behind Rainbow and across from Byerly’s). Knowing that the Bhut Jolokia is from India, I figured they would be the best chance I had of finding the elusive pepper in the South Metro.
Unfortunately I didn’t find the pepper but I found a recently expanded store featuring numerous frozen entrees, fresh vegetables and refrigerated items as well as a plethora of dry goods ranging from jarred pickles to large bags of rice. All of their prices seemed quite reasonable compared to what I have seen elsewhere (mainly the ethnic aisles of large chain grocers) and the selection was incredible.
After picking up a large bag of dried red chilies which were listed for $1.99, I headed for the counter and waited for everyone else in the store to leave. I was informed that their minimum credit card purchase is $10 (which isn’t allowed per Visa’s merchants’ terms (page 9) and is one of my biggest pet peeves) so I put the item back and chose to chat with the friendly woman behind the counter instead. I asked her about the Bhut Jolokia and after suggesting that red chilies would be fine for heat (I tried to explain to her that even raw habaneros aren’t enough for me) she said that previous searches for other customers have led her to dead ends as well. We ended up on a discussion of my recent failed attempt at making palak paneer and she then proceeded to give me an excellent recipe which should take me no more than 30 minutes (10-15 if I had a pressure cooker). Wow, what service! I’ll definitely be back soon to pick up some essentials :)
After leaving Desi Foods, I drove myself to Burnsville’s Rearn Thai Market (behind Blue Max and next to Giuseppes and stopped in. I was one of only two customers inside and began perusing the fresh vegetables in the cooler. They had several packages of fresh habaneros in multiple colors. When I asked how often their vegetables are delivered I was told every Monday and Friday. The habaneros (there were 6 or so in the package) would have set me back a little more than a dollar. Not too shabby! Unfortunately, as I had already figured, they also do not carry Bhut Jolokias but suggested I try a Mexican market down behind the SuperAmerica on CR-5 in Burnsville. With it already getting late, I decided to wait on that trek for another day. But I wandered the store a bit more just to see what they had.
In addition to the vegetables in the coolers the were plenty of other vegetables stacked on the floor curving around the aisles. The man working the store was helpful and answered many of my questions cheerfully (and gave many much more information himself) and then went on to explain how I could make a tasty red curry from some canned paste, skin on pork, and one of the funky vegetables that looked like a large green eggplant as well as a variety of hot peppers to taste. I love how friendly both stores were–going so far as to offer recipe advice without me even prompting for it. Try that at Cub, Rainbow, or Target…ha!
I was impressed with the selection provided in the store and, just like like Desi Foods, I will make this a more regular stop for some of my grocery needs. While not organic they do fill a niche that I need to explore now and again, especially when the Budget Nazi is prohibiting my usual culinary delights at local restaurants, something which seems to have been even less as the summer’s activities stretch our budget even thinner than it already is.
So a few questions:
1. Do you know where I can find Bhut Jolokia peppers (or products containing them) in the local area? I know I can grow the peppers although they are apparently pretty difficult to get going and I know I can order sauces online but I’d like to support our local shops first, if I am able.
2. Do you shop at any of the local specialty ethnic grocery stores for your cooking? If so, which ones do you frequent most often and why?
So go ahead and comment on and tell us where to shop ethnic and why!
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June 16th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
you are a mad man! raw habeneros!? my father in laws grows them in his garden in california. dared me to eat one. even pulled out a fresh, crisp $100 bill if i could. took 1 nibble. ONE NIBBLE… I was out. I love hot, but my god, it’s friggen HOT!!! i’m impressed with people that can down them. very impressive.
June 16th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
*shrug*, after a while you just get used to it I guess. I’m not saying it’s not hot but it’s not unbearable or anything. The only item in recent times that has caused me some discomfort was Dave’s Ultimate Insanity sauce. You’re apparently supposed to use it one drop at a time, I used it like ketchup.
June 16th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Bhut Jolokia? Wasn’t he a kicker for the Raiders? Samoan or something like that, I heard.
I have to second that emotion on Dave’s Insanity. I looked at the ingredients and said, “Hah! the first two are tomato sauce and onions — how hot can it be?” then slathered a bunch on some tacos and lived to regret it. It was inedible. A drop at a time is a good rule of thumb, even for committed chili-heads.
June 16th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Well, it was edible but I was pouring sweat and I was dizzy from the endorphins. That sauce is serious shit and apparently one of the few that’s an actual sauce rather than a concentrated extract.
June 16th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I grew some blood red habeneros in the garden a few years back. My nephew came over and said he could chow one. With 50 bucks on the line he tossed it in his mouth….chomp…chomp…chomp and swallow. What followed next was like a cartoon, where the red starts at the stomach and causes an explosion when it reaches the cranium. Milk, bread, more milk and tossing lunch two times behind the garage followed. It was very painful to watch and I felt I got by cheap with the 50 bucks. I’ll never pay someone to suffer like that again, it was like I gut shot him.
June 16th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Tim: Maybe your nephew should have enjoyed the hab “cherry bomb” style at Ronin. Very tasty that way and entirely edible. Thanks to Bill for the tip on that one
June 16th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Years ago we took a spring break road trip to New Orleans and stopped at a store that only sold different types of hot sauce. I asked what the hottest thing they had was and purchased myself a bottle of Daves Insanity Sauce. That lead to some of the best entertainment of my college life. Many a house party would see some drunk claiming he could eat a spoonful of the sauce without throwing up.
As we seldom had anything other than beer to chase it with, and certainly nothing resembling dairy, the antics following the drinks were truly priceless. One drunk even took the bottle and tried to take a swig out of it. Thankfully he burned his lips on the crusty sauce on the neck of the bottle!
June 16th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Okay, for some reason the Tim that posted earlier in this thread and myself are showing with the same post count. Not sure why this would happen since we have to enter our email addresses.
June 16th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Chad,
Dave’s Insanity Sauce is rated at about 180,000 Scoville units (Tabasco is about 3,000 and raw habaneros rate around 200,000) while the Ultimate Insanity has been rated to 350,000. The pepper I’m looking for is rated to just under 1.1 million Scoville units.
That said, I also had Dave’s Insanity Sauce (as show in the picture I linked) and it wasn’t hot at all. In fact, it was quite tasty with a cute little garlic flavor in the background.
June 16th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
LOL… Like Ketchup!! Geeezzz…. I love Frank’s Hot Sauce though. One of my Faves. Not sure I could ever learn to enjoy the habenero. Done correctly, sure, i.e., for added heat…
June 16th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Tim,
I altered the PHP code to not check your e-mail address to tally counts. Unfortunately so many people have provided the site with 3 or more e-mail addresses and even after I went through and manually consolidated them, people would just comment with different e-mail addresses (I assume it’s saved in the browser). Thus, you’ll have to live with the artificially inflated comment count.
June 16th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
As a side note, I took my sister in law and her boyfriend to Ronin and ordered the Habernero Popper Cherry Bomb things. Both are chefs and I figured I was doing them a huge service by helping them evolve thier pallets.
It was very nearly painful to watch them eat them, but after the initial shock they both settled down and ate quite a bit of the “dessert”.
I would like to know, and forgot to ask, was that something they came up with at Ronin, or something you came up with?
June 16th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Here is a link to a pepper forum. Perhaps you have already seen it. One of the posters who grows Bhut Jolokai is from Minnetonka. Perhaps you can contact him?
June 16th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
http://forums.seedsavers.org/showthread.php?t=323&page=2
Sorry, here it is.
June 16th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Thanks. I surfed around and I believe I found his contact information. Email sent. Chad you’re my hero.
June 16th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
My ethnic shopping is usually limited to Asian and my go-to market is I believe called, Asian Market. It used to be located in Burnsville, west of Cedar on Cliff in the the same strip mall as Subway, J’s Restaurant and the donut shop. Last year it moved even closer to me, now on Cliff in Eagan between Cedar and 35E. Always friendly service, no weird looks about being the only white girl in the store and I’ve always been able to find what I need. With the move they were able to expand their fresh food section and add a meat counter.
June 16th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I have some dried ones… you want in?
June 16th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Wait, your palak paneer failed? Not with MY recipe i hope :)
June 17th, 2009 at 4:23 am
[...] Roehl hunts for the world’s hottest pepper in the South metro, Chris spots a Papa John’s sign promoting a dubious sentiment, a giant [...]
June 17th, 2009 at 5:51 am
Kate,
re: dried ones, yup sure do! Are they yours or did you grab them from somewhere? I got the e-mail back from the guy Chad suggested I contact and he said he got about 6 peppers per plant after growing them indoors from January and then having them outside until September. Guess they don’t grow so well here :(
re: palak paneer, no, I didn’t use your recipe even though I wanted to. Next time I’m going super easy and then after I get success with that I’ll try yours :-)
June 17th, 2009 at 6:08 am
Bill
I got a sampler of dried peppers from marxfoods and the ghost pepper just happened to be one of them. http://www.marxfoods.com/Dried-Ghost-Chilies
If you email me your address I can drop them in the mail. I’m thinking you could just use the seeds from one of those and try growing them that way. They probably needs lots of hot weather to grow well. Maybe you could get one of those indoor growing lamps.
I’m not sure how many i have left, but one sure goes a long way.
June 17th, 2009 at 7:36 am
Thanks Kate! Anyone up for a taste of the pepper when it arrives?! ;-) Perhaps I should carefully carry it to Ronin for some white hot fire backed drunken noodles?!
June 17th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Desi- I like the mangos when their in season, about 1/2 Rainbow’s price. The masala and curry powders are excellent, and, on the weekend the hot pastries behind the counter. I also hate their 10.00 minimum and was not aware that it was not allowed. Hmmm.
Rearn Thai- Go there for sweet soy sauce, fish sauce, asian noodle bowls, kimchi flavor being the favorite, and occasional lemon grass.
June 17th, 2009 at 8:43 am
congrats on getting a link from The Heavy Table… drum up the visitors!
I have been shopping at Asian supermarket on Hwy 13 across from the Menard’s store and 2 doors West of McDonald’s. Helpful staff… great produce… the fresh ingredients are outstanding (ultra fresh thyme for $1.25 with about 4x the amount you get inside the plastic containers sold at local Western supermarkets, not mention more varieties of bitter melon(yuk) than a soul could do with)… they have a small deli with various fried items and i think they sell their own banh mi sandwiches. I just noticed that about 1/4 mile west is another newer Asian market…
good luck on finding the Indian hottie, in my younger years I had a taste for the heat, but as i reached 50 i lost that need… i still use sambal oelek, tabasco and Valentina sauces.. .but the scovilles are much lower than i used to crave or handle. I also lost my interest in cigars about the same time. I am convinced that there is a connection there somewhere between hormonal changes(even in men) and cravings? anyone else feel that?
June 17th, 2009 at 8:45 am
To be fair, I get quite a few (two this week!) because Jim and his crew are definitely up on the pulse of MN’s foodie network. I also got linked from MNspeak (Secrets of the City or whatever they call it now) for this post too.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:53 am
don’t let the foodie fame go to your head….
you might be saying “BAMMMMM” and “that’s what I’m talking about” and putting on a few extra lbs before you know it
June 17th, 2009 at 10:53 am
I have plenty o’ hot peppers going in the garden this year Bill, will give you a shout when they are ready to go. I have differentiated from Tim the first, henceforth I am Timbucktwo
June 17th, 2009 at 11:01 am
TBT, I have updated all of your prior comments to match Timbucktwo. Thanks for that.
June 17th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Found this on craigslist. Not sure it helps, but might be another source of info in your quest for hot peppers.
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/grd/1226683665.html
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:21 am
I believe that if you want to grow them you can get them at Bachman’s in Apple Valley. The are sold under the less proper name of “Worlds hottest peppers”. I believe that these are what you want, but as they aren’t labeled correctly I still am unsure but they look to be correct. I grow them in my garden and use them in pickling and chili. I plant them in the least shaded area of my garden water frequently, and are grown in the soil I empty my barbecue and fire pit in and compost my leaves in and they grow great.
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:23 am
Andrew, thanks for the comment. I went to Bachman’s a few weeks ago looking for plants and I saw those peppers but they are not what I’m looking for in this case. However, even so, I did pick up some serrano and jalapenos neither of which are doing very well in my garden :(
June 26th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Mmmm Chili grenades! http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/26/hot-chili-grenades.html