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Rivet's Bhut Jolokia Plant |
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Posted: 06 September 2010 at 14:51 |
It has been an interesting year so far- exciting too- as my first Bhut Jolokia plant ever appears to be thriving well and loving the midwestern weather we have.
I dont know why Tabasco sauce is used as a yardstick, since to us chiliheads Tabasco sauce is little more than flavoured vinegar. Very tasty, but irrelevant as far heat is concerned. |
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Hoser
Admin Group Joined: 06 February 2010 Location: Cumberland, RI Status: Offline Points: 3454 |
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Seems to me one would have to use a great deal of discretion when employing Bhut Jolokia in a salsa wouldn't one? I mean...can you mince it up small enough? Have you thought about pureeing them John, and using it ....like 1/4 teaspoon at a time? I'm just wondering how to find out what is a good amount when using them. You know?
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Go ahead...play with your food!
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kiwi
Chef's Apprentice Joined: 16 February 2010 Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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better test it on someone else first, and wear gloves if you ever want to touch your eyes, nose, mouth etc ever again!
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kai time!
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Definitely a good deal of discretion is advisable, Dave. I'm going to skip putting any in the salsa, but I want to give your idea a try. Puree some then put a dab in the whole pot of chile con carne and see where that heads to. I heard these chiles are really finifky and hard to grow, thus I took it on as a challenge. Looks like I did okay, but now what?
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Hoser
Admin Group Joined: 06 February 2010 Location: Cumberland, RI Status: Offline Points: 3454 |
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Don't be afraid my friend....just cautious
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Go ahead...play with your food!
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got14u
Chef's Apprentice Joined: 27 January 2010 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 341 |
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Oh man I wish I would of started one. Just to get my boys to take a bite..lol...How much hotter are those then a Red Caribbean?
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Jerod
Life's hard, it's even harder when your stupid. |
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About 10 thousand times so they say
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Boilermaker
Chef Joined: 23 July 2010 Location: Marietta, GA Status: Offline Points: 685 |
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Beautiful, can't wait to hear how the peppers turn out. I'll bet maybe one or two of these in a batch of salsa would be okay. One should be the equivalent of 3 or 4 habaneros.
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Hoser
Admin Group Joined: 06 February 2010 Location: Cumberland, RI Status: Offline Points: 3454 |
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I guess the best comparison I've seen is that a bhut jolokia is 40 times hotter than pure tabasco sauce. If you go to you tube, you'll find lots of videos of guys tasting them.
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Go ahead...play with your food!
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Okay, today- near a month later the plant has about six full sized peppers on it, and another dozen or so in varying stages of growth- a very happy plant.
I licked my finger after handling the pepper and got nothing.....the fears of exorbitant heat are overstated.
My plan was to bake the pepper in the garlic baking thingy with a tooth of garlic, a teaspoon of olive oil and see what happens. Into the oven it went at 350F for 45 minutes. Took it out, set it to rest for about 5 minutes, then opened it. Didn't smell hot at all. In fact all I smelled was garlic. I cut a piece of the pepper about a quarter inch square, carefull to scrape the seeds off. Then I ate it. I chewed it slowly and felt a gentle slow wave of heat cover my mouth. Not blinding heat; nothing like taking a bite of a habanero off the plant, nor eating a couple tabascos seeds and all in the mid-day....no, this was gentle. But hot. No doubt about it, this is a very hot pepper. My head started sweating making the roots of my hair damp.
The flavour of the pepper was...."green". Nothing unique. "Green" as in a raw vegetable flavour much like a jalapeno. These peppers are supposed to have a unique flavour so this green-ness is no surprise. The pepper I got is clearly immature and needs a couple more weeks to turn red or ochre or whatever the case may be. No need for water, cold beer, or anything to cool down the heat. I just enjoyed it and let it taper off slowly, just like it came on.
I think that as the pods ripen, the heat will become more pronounced. From the pepper wall I ate, I can imagine the seeds to be disturbingly hot, better suited for a lage pot of chili or stew. Not something I'd want to eat by itself.
I am pampering my plant as the days grow cooler and night temps drop....really interested in seeing how these pepper pods turn out in this experiment of mine.
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Hoser
Admin Group Joined: 06 February 2010 Location: Cumberland, RI Status: Offline Points: 3454 |
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You're a brave man John...I'll look forward to reading about your progress.
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Go ahead...play with your food!
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Boilermaker
Chef Joined: 23 July 2010 Location: Marietta, GA Status: Offline Points: 685 |
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Beautiful!
Can't wait to grow some of these. |
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Well thank you Dave! And here's my progress report. It seems ages ago since I posted anything on the plant but it has been only about a month. It has shot up into maturity in a very short period.
Interesting thing about this pepper as opposed to other more common hot pepper plants, is that the bhut jolokia has an interminable "youth" season, ranging from sprout to viable plant. Took a very long time to even be certain the thing was going to turn into a hardy bush. Took near 4 or 5 months I'm guessing, since I started this from seed way earlier and didn't start counting tim euntil I had sprouts that survived the seedling stage.
Anyway, in keeping with this weird cycle of theirs, apparently they then "bolt" into maturity. It wasn't a month ago I had the first couple peppers and now they are all over and turning orange and red before my eyes. No exaggeration....three or four days ago there was not a single pod any other color than green. I know this because I have been bringing in the plant ever night for over a week now since the evenings are getting too cold for it. Only yesterday did I notice the red pod.
Today, in looking closer I see several orange ones as well, and another few in the process of changing from green to orange to red. Amazing!
One pepper will probably be completely red by tomorrow. I'll monitor it. There are also plenty more peppers camoflauged in the leafiness, with more good sized green ones ready to turn....
This is exciting since I did not think that I would be able to sustain the plant to maturity (and get mature seeds and pods) due to its life-cycle and our weather here in the midwest. Apparently my babying and carrying it in and out has done what it needed and at least one mature seed pod is gonna drop. That means we should have viable seeds to plant next year! I know Boilermaker has asked for some and anyone else who wants a few to give it a go.....just ask, I will be glad to share.
I plant to dry some of the pods in the dehydrator, and use some for cooking. But, the priority this year has always been to get viable mature pods and seeds, and at this point it seems that is going to happen.
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Well....the plant has been very happy and growing / maturing just as it should. With all the red pods going on I'm thinking in a couple of weeks they will fall off and the seeds will be ready to harvest. My plan is to grow about 3 or 4 plants next summer and really take this to the next level.
Although they were really sensitive in their initial stages, once the plant sets itself it was a piece of cake. Looks like the dry heat at nights from the wood stove really gave it a kick in in the rump. I noticed it was really thirsty over all and made sure it got watered well, but not soaked since the plants do not like to have sodden "feet" or roots. About a pint of water a day. Gonna send seeds to Boilermaker and if anyone else wants some speak up and you will get some too.
The plan is to make my secret signature beef chili with some of the peppers (very little of them) instead of japs and habs. We'll see how this goes, but I am guessing it will be good.
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kiwi
Chef's Apprentice Joined: 16 February 2010 Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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haha, spot the traffic light chili :)
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kai time!
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Boilermaker
Chef Joined: 23 July 2010 Location: Marietta, GA Status: Offline Points: 685 |
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I'm anxious to learn if these are as hot as legend has it.
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got14u
Chef's Apprentice Joined: 27 January 2010 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 341 |
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I love your details and how you explain your biting into the one with garlic.....great write up john!
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Jerod
Life's hard, it's even harder when your stupid. |
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Thanks Jerod, I appreciate that! It was a fun taste-test, and demonstrated how different an unripe pepper can be from a ripe one, as I describe in my making of "Ti-Malice" a Haitian hot pepper salsa using these bhut jolokias.
I shared all my pepper pods except for 3 which I will be using for seed for next year's crop. I've got a package of store-bought, dried bhut jolokias for any salsa making experiments I may do!
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Boilermaker
Chef Joined: 23 July 2010 Location: Marietta, GA Status: Offline Points: 685 |
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Rivet sent me both fresh and dried pods from this plant. I bit into one of the fresh ghost chili pods last night, it has good flavor and tremendous heat, I mean TREMENDOUS THERMONUCLEAR type heat. I most likely will not do that again.
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Boilermaker
Chef Joined: 23 July 2010 Location: Marietta, GA Status: Offline Points: 685 |
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Ghost chili update:
I sliced a few of Rivet's bhut jolokias in half and have had them marinating in vinegar for the past couple of weeks as I have seen him do in preparation for making his wonderful salsas. I intend to make salsa from both the peppers and the vinegar. I tasted the vinegar last night and the heat of the chilis is imparting nicely to it, the vinegar is HOT! I'm looking forward to some bhut jolokia salsa. I can't wait to eat it with some scrambled eggs and my homemade chorizo on tortillas. YUM!! |
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