The Bhut Jolokia or Ghost Pepper (Cili Bom/Hantu) used to be ranked no. 1 as the hottest chilli in the world. Today it's dethroned and has dropped to no. 7.
Still it is very hot, definitely hotter than our local cili padi.
So when I came across it at the nursery in Brinchang (Big Strawberry Nursery RM 15), I was interested. My mother discouraged me from buying saying these types of plants will not live long in the lowlands.
Of course, I bought it anyway and a few weeks later in the lowlands it is still alive. Not only that, the chillies are turning from green to red indicating it's ripe. (I tried the green one and it was totally tasteless!)
Test only one of course.
With some fish. Actually the above is only 1/3 of the chilli.
My experience? The soya ketchup itself was spicy. Something that doesn't happen with chilli padi. So I was apprehensive to bite on the chilli itself but I did bite a tiny piece later. It wasn't hot at all. Not for the first 10 seconds anyway. Then my forehead started to sweat. Then my head felt warm and I thought it was because I touched my forehead with my hands which was exposed to the chilli while cutting the chillies. I washed my hands and forehead with water just the same.
The second and third tiny bits of the chilli tasted as hot as cili padi and the effect was the same my head became warm. Nobody else dared to try the chilli so most of it went into the fridge.
Conclusion:
Happy to have tried it. Will continue using it but mostly to spice up the soya sauce and not bite directly on the chilli :). I recommend this too to those who dare not try thinking it's too hot.
Will try to harvest the seeds as the original plant is still healthy but from what I heard, insects like whiteflies can kill these types of plants fast.
No comments:
Post a Comment