How spicy can you eat?

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Growing up in Malaysia, I have developed an unnatural ability to eat things that can normally destroy a human being.

I can say I've eaten pretty much all kinds of peppers (including thai peppers, which I pretty much eat regularly and the dreaded Red Savina, which is probably the most potent pepper I've eaten).

My grandmother, however, is a legend when it comes to pepper eating. She would eat nothing but a bag of Red Thai Peppers like candy while playing majong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_pepper

[Prototype]

My stomach is compairable to the Sedin Twins. It may not like ponies as much, but you'll never see it go into the corner against anything spicy.

[ken0042]

For me its about flavour instead of shear heat. For example I love home made East Indian food; because its spicy but really tasty.

However at the bar I will usually order wings medium- as sometimes hot means "soak them in hot sauce."

[Knut]

I usually do not have much a problem with most things spicy... however after about 30 seconds my ears start to really ache if it is too spicy. It is quite strange really... my mouth/throat will be ok.. but my ears will hurt. It must be some gland connection or something.

Jalapeno's are about as hot as i go.

[Poison]

I have never found anything that has stopped me, one of the things i want to do is to go down to Louisana or somewhere to get into a hot wing contest and see how i stack up against others.
Anyone know of any contests like this in town?

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I'm with Ken, I stopped ordering suicide wings for myself a few years ago. Last time I got them (just for me) I finished them, but I didn't enjoy them. Can I eat a dozen suicide wings? Yes. However I much prefer the flavour of the regular hot. Now in Syndey sauce is on the wings, drenched in it, and it is glorious!

When my buddies and I used to go for wings in Halifax we'd order both hot and suicide. The sauce would be on the side, so I'd dip in suicide first to get the spice, but much prefered the flavour of the hot.

As for other dishes, I put pepper and chili's on my steak when BBQing to give it some extra kick. When it comes to Curry Chicken I've never experianced too spicy. My aunt has spent the last 35 years or in Malaysia and makes AMAZING Curry Chicken.

I'm a fan of spice, but I need the flavour as well. It's a balance.

[Burninator]

I've been all about the spicy food recently. Every time I go out to eat I usually seek out something spicy on the menu. When I got for veit I usually put that hot sauce, with the rooster on it, all over my food. And Frank's Red Hot, I've been putting that on everything I can now. Tasty stuff. I can't really handle the Thai peppers, the hotness just overwhelms my mouth and I can't taste anything for the rest of the meal.

[troutman]

I love the heat, but not the Ring of Fire the next day.

I've tried growing hot peppers in our garden.

[sclitheroe]

This guy: http://www.pepperjoe.com/ sells really good hot pepper seeds if you want to try growing your own. I've got about 5 different varieties in the garden right now. You can container garden hot peppers pretty easily too, if you don't have a garden handy.


-Scott

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Does anyone know if eating spicy all the time is good for your health? That's something I often wondered about.

[Bertuzzied]

I can't even eat Old Dutch BBQ chips! hahaha. You'll never find me at Tropika.

[tkflames]

Perhaps this thread can best be gaged on the levels of spicyness you can reach at the Unicorn downtown calgary. I have eaten a lot of spice from all over the world, but not much compares to the level 3 wings there. (Usually they wont serve these to you until you have had level 2 because a girl was taken out of there on a stretcher)

[CaramonLS]

I occasionally put a little bit of Pepper on my eggs in the morning, and have to have a drink after eating more than one Salt & Pepper wing at the bar.

[TheDragon]

Originally Posted by TheyCallMeBruce

Does anyone know if eating spicy all the time is good for your health? That's something I often wondered about.

Mexicans claim it helps keep your body cooler in the heat by eating spicey foods because it forces you to create more sweat.

It's also very good for cleaning out your blood. Not too many toxins like hanging around in your body after you've had a few hot peppers. I know it's even helped me get over colds and such quicker.

Me personally, I love spicey foods. But, I'm in agreeance that it should only be used to add flavour. Eating spicey foods isn't competitive sport. That soft little burn in the throat is what I look for when it comes to hot sauces and stuff. Those crazy Habanero sauces are all fine and dandy and a fun little novelty but if I can't taste my food, I'm not interested.

[HelloHockeyFans]

I love spicy foods. When I have pho, my soup is red from the hot sauce I add. Korean food is my favourite because it's almost always spicy.

From what I've read, spicy food actually has a lot of benefits. A compound found in peppers fights cancer and also triggers the release of endorphins which is why we actually seek out spicy foods despite the side-effects we feel while eating it.

I also remember reading that the urban myth that spicy foods cause ulcers is false.

[GrrlGoalie33]

Originally Posted by TheyCallMeBruce

Does anyone know if eating spicy all the time is good for your health? That's something I often wondered about.

According to some experts, eating spicy food can increase your metabolism. But as with anything there are two sides to the story on that. Google "spicy foods increase metabolism" and there are tonnes of hits.

[Inferno]

I'm down to trying anything no matter how spicy it is. The worst I've probably had is super suicide wings at Manhattan's in Winnipeg.

[troutman]

Scoville Scale:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale

The Scoville scale is a measure of the "hotness", or more correctly, piquancy, of a chili pepper. These fruits of the Capsicum genus contain capsaicin, a chemical compound which stimulates thermoreceptornerve endings in the skin, especially the mucus membranes. The number of Scoville heat units (SHU) indicates the amount of capsaicin present. Many hot sauces use their Scoville rating in advertising as a selling point. The scale is named after its creator, American chemist Wilbur Scoville.

The hottest?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Savina_pepper

Samples of Red Savina have been measured as high as 580,000 Scoville units. For comparison, this is twice as hot as a regular habanero pepper (100,000–350,000 Scoville units), and 65 times as hot as a jalapeño pepper. A cayenne pepper rates only 30,000–50,000 Scoville units.

In February 2007 the Red Savina chili was displaced in Guinness World Records as the hottest chili in the world by the Naga Jolokia pepper

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga_Jolokia_pepper

In 2000, scientists at India's Defence Research Laboratory (DRL) reported a rating of 855,000 units on the Scoville scale,[1][4] and in 2004 an Indian export company called Frontal Agritech obtained a rating of 1,041,427 units,[5] which would mean it is almost twice as hot as the Red Savina pepper and roughly equal to the similar-looking Dorset Naga,[6] which is derived from the Naga Jolokia. For comparison, pure capsaicin rates at 15,000,000–16,000,000 Scoville units.


I used to eat triple suicide wings at Ed's in the 1980s - that was the hottest crap I ever ate - not enjoyable at all, but a badge of honor.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Holy crap...I've heard of the Naga Jolokia, but twice as hot as the Red Savina??

The Red Savina almost killed me...and it was served in a dish precooked to lessen it's potency. If I could "barely" handle that. I'm sure Naga Jolokia will send me to the doctors.

[evman150]

I don't understand the appeal of spicy things. Totally takes away from the actual taste of whatever you're eating.

I had too much pepper on my Subway the other day and just about sent it back cause it was too hot.