Re: [CH] KNOCKING RED SAVINA off the world's record book?
Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Fri, 10 Jan 2003 09:24:50 -0800
> LAST CALL FOR ANY CONTENDERS, if you have personally experienced any
> pepper that might knock the Red Savina off the Guinness Book of World's
> Records?
The only chile I have personally experienced which might possibly be hotter
then typical Red Savina is a small C. chinense named Aji Yuquitania. I can
say it was without question hotter by far than any other chile besides Red
Savina I have ever tasted -- both being the only two I have never been able
to consume a whole one of ("in a reasonably short period of time"). (Given
that Aji Yuquitania is far, far smaller then Red Savina, on a by-weight
basis it is easy to imagine it might be hotter than Red Savina. And, since
it is only maybe 2-3x the size of largest pequin chiles I have ever seen, I
feel safe believing it is probably considerably hotter to me on a by-weight
basis than pequin, though this is considering only pequins I have grown in
SF bay area, not whatever region where they might attain their maximum heat
potential, but then of course ditto for the Aji Yuquitania, while Red
Savinas being compared have come from various locations including locally
here, and of course several Red Savina group purchasees organized by Art
Pierce).
Unfortunately, all the Aji Yuquitania I have tried the past 5-6 years have
been from purchased plants, from various vendors, and all those were
visibly crossed, not pure real Aji Yuquitania, and all produced fruit
considerably milder than the real one is. So, even though the real Aji
Yuquitania is a scorcher, and possibly hotter than Red Savina, I know of no
current source of uncrossed seed/plants to give a valid test.
Maybe it is time for somebody to attempt acquiring new uncrossed seeds from
their source: the Cubeo Indians, Mitu region, Dept. Vaupes, Colombia.
I have no basis for personally comparing pequin with Aji Yuquitania, or
habanero or any other chile, on a by-weight basis, because I always only
eat them by the single piece (excepting the tiniest chiles, e.g. C.
baccatum var. baccatum, where you usually have to pop several at a time to
get desired heat level), and have never personally weighed out chiles to do
a taste test of the type of "equal weights in a single bite" or "equal
weights in a single cup of stew" or whatever.
Who knows... if I ever actually weighed them out and compared on a
by-weight basis, especially without seeds, maybe my C. chacoense would jump
from "uninterestingly not hot" to "really really hot", given they are tiny
and at least 110% seeds. But then, they still end up too tiny, too seedy,
no special flavor, and not very hot per fruit, so ... who cares ... still
not worth the trouble to harvest.
--- Brent