Cup-cakes & Hand-grenades...

This comes from the International stories flying under the radar file. You may have heard of "guns & butter" but have you heard of cup-cakes & hand grenades...I mean what could they they possibly have in common you ask? The Bhut Jolokia affectionately known as the Ghost Pepper from Northeastern India would be the answer. I first heard about them a few years ago in an article in a magazine(I read way too many...so not sure which) . It was rated by far the hottest pepper in the world. Hot peppers are rated in Scoville units & the Ghost clocks in at 1,041,427 Scoville units! To put this in perspective a Jalapeno is a pathetic 8,000 & the oh so hot Habernaro wimps out at 325,000... In other words...ever make the mistake of rubbing your eyes after making salsa with a jalapeno & remember how good that felt...well do the math. I have yet to try ghost pepper hot sauce...but I have had chocolate cupcakes made with them (available at Pirisi in NYC see early blog for details). I love them & if you love chocolate & very spicy food it is a fantasy come true. If you don't love hot peppers & have a high tolerance for pain keep away. The other day I read an article that the Indian Government is going to have their military weaponize the pepper (I'm not making this up) by using it to make tear gas hand grenades. I cannot even begin to imagine how painful they are going to be & seriously wonder if they can do permanent damage. If they are going to use them for Spec Ops against Terrorists...more power to them...my concern is if they use them for crowd control...which I'm guessing they are going to. The ghost pepper...on the one hand...if diluted properly a tasty but for not the faint of heart spice...on the other a PMD...