The race for the best chilli, or ?

Hello my good readers,

It has been a long time since I wrote, partially due to pain, and an other part stress. It is hard to stop writing, and even harder to get back to writing. Until I read something that made me mad, pissed off! What better way to get back to writing with a rant ! So with pain in fingers and shoulders, I want to tell you something.

I told you before about the hippy like feel the chilli scene has.
And it has, people share recipe's ideas and seeds.
These chaps help eachother out, if they lost seeds or even lost money or goods.
Sauce companies that were in a storm or in a flood are helped.
Even one chilli lover that lost his house due to a fire, is helped with money.
And money there is in the scene.
Even though we have a crises here and in the US, hot sauce business is booming everywhere. Now don't ask me why, but it is.
Maybe as people want to discover new tastes and new food experiences.
Maybe as people like it more hot than ever.
Sites selling chilli seeds are popping up like crazy everywhere, and not all with the best of products I'm afraid.
Now that comes natural, where there is money there will be good and bad sellers.
But things are starting to smell like fraud and deception maybe.
I hate to say this, but I more and more get an odd feeling really with things that happen.

I have always said the best chillies are not the hottest ones.
True, some of the super hot chillies are great, even if you only use a little, and some are just downright awful.
Didn´t you notice that the hotter the chilli is, the higher the price at a seeds selling store?
If it would be up to me, the best tasting ones would be the most expensive, but they are not.
So,
there is good money in the next Guinness book of record chilli, people want to buy it weather they will eat it or not.
Oddly enough it doesn´t make a lot of difference if it is tasty, the next chilli in the Guinness book of records for being the hottest in the world is worth a load of money.
Ha money, there is the word again that would normally spook a hippy.

Well, there are good few people that are not hippy in this business.
Now I am not saying people should not make a living, but people should not sell a thing based on rumours.
If you say you have the next record holder, show some real proof !
No doubt about it the hottest chilli is the Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T" until proven otherwise !
But rumours oh rumours. . . .
I am not the first person to stumble over these rumours.
Tina Brooks wrote an excellent post about this too.


So I raised my eye brows when last year the new upcoming record holder was presented.
Seeds were sold for silly money, 10 seeds for around 10 dollar, and keeping in mind you can easily get 1000 seeds from one plant. . . .
Need I say more? Well yes, I have plants that gave me well over 5000 seeds in one year.
Anyway, the new Moruga was the hottest, the upcoming record holder. . . .
I tasted 3 varieties, and the Satan Strain Moruga was extremely hot, and extremely tasty !
But I have never seen proof that the normal Moruga Red that would be the hottest, was the hottest.
Seeds were sold in no time though. Next was the Carolina Reaper, the seeds started to be sold a week before the proof would be presented in the US national press released on Monday, August 27 2012.
Needless to say I have neither seen proof or a big national wide press release. All I have seen was a lot of talk about laberatory tests that were never shown, and the rumour that the Guinness Book of Records nowadays asks money for testing a record holder. . . .
I am not contesting that this might be the next record holder fot the hottest chilli, it is just that I want to be sure.
But no worries, the seeds were sold in no-time.

Now I hate it if my friends in hippy chilli land are ripped, and/or if their believe in the hippy like chilli scene is damaged!

The variations in the Carolina Reaper are so big, the so-called stable cross, is anything but stable.
Look at all the pictures, they should be the same chilli!
This is damaging my childish Santa kind of belief in the chilli world, and I am surely not alone in that.
Don't let them fool ye !

Then again, I never wanted to be a hippy anyway !

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer
Pictures by courtesy of Jason Richards

Taste review: Parvifolium mini mini

Last year I was send some seeds from Lee, the founder of Wildchilli.eu.
One of them was the "Parvifolium mini mini" It even became one of the biggest plants I had this year.

Lee already warn me it would take a long time to ripen them, and he was right!
For more than months the fruits stayed green, and with winter and frost coming, I had to dig it out and take it inside.
Even inside, with warmer conditions, it didn't ripen. So today I decided to taste a green one.
The fruits of the Parvifolium mini mini are very small like the name already did suggest.

Now to the taste:
First (like you can expect from a green chilli) the typical green bell-pepper taste,
Followed by a nice fresh citrus, wow its just like a ripe lemon!
Then the heat kicks in, very shape sting in my tongue who also disappears rather quick, leaving me with a little taste like lemongrass.
A itchy feeling in my nose made me blow it..and then it started: This one burns in your nose!
The burning feeling you get under your nose when you have a cold and have to blow it a lot.....times ten!


Parvifolium mini mini, a little,citrus tasting, bugger, wonder how it will taste when ripe!

Aldo

Taste report for Rocoto de Seda

It's Rocoto season!

After waiting for more than two full months my Rocoto de Seda finally turned to beautiful jellow.
Today I harvested the first one and couldn't wait tasting it.

The inside contains three "chambers" with large black seeds (black seeds are typical pubescens).

Carefully i put a piece in my mouth. HMMMM! Nice sweet like raisins, no not those sticky black things from the red box but raisins that are not ruined by sulfuring them.
(who invented the sulfuring? why ruin the lovely tast raisins have?)
I even tasted some banana.
After a few seconds the heat kicks in, aw! to much for me!
With the juices the heat spreads quick over my, lips, mouth, throat and stomach, everywhere.







Inspired by the raisin like taste I took what was over from the fruit, cut some raisins, added a little water and sugar and as finish some lemon juice.
Cooked it slowly for a few minutes. The rocoto and raisins did match indeed..its a sort of hot baklava...maybe try hot apple pie next time












Bart, thank you for letting me write on your blog!
Aldo

Taste review Rocoto mini red

After my last Rocoto, I expected this to be a mild chilli without a really strong taste. . .
Well, think again. . . Surprises surprises, what a lovely chilli!

First, this plant again has amazing flowers, and them hairy leaves and stem.
This plant however does not grow like mad, its gets flowers, drops a few, and gets fruit.
It really is much faster than the other ones. and stays within 60-70 cm wide ( approx 2 foot )
But then the ripening, it takes ages and makes you wonder if anything is wrong. And no, there is not.
These plants are really a bit odd you know, they hate full sun, and like a bit of shade. Not too much shade, but a bit. Full sun all day is a no no. So if you have a spot where you don't want to place chillies as it is a bit in the shade, this is the place for a Rocoto plant.

Now this one is hot, really hot, but not as hot that you can not get the taste. Again this watery hot is strange, take a little bite and your mouth is watering and hot all over in seconds. The taste is odd and lovely, makes me think of a wild chilli. Not a really strong taste, but certainly 3 steps up from the Giant red Rocoto. It makes me think of a Roma tomato, soft and almost creamy. Then it starts giving more and more tastes. Its got both tomato and apple taste in it, and a general taste of fruits. But that taste is almost contradicted with herbs and the taste of berries. It is slightly sour, making me think of that tomato I said before, but also of Juniper berry with the slight bitter it has.

In short a fantastic Rocoto that you can grow in a pot, with such good flowers and a very complex taste. Now mind, it is not a superhot, but the heat builds if you cook it. And due to its instant spreading in the mouth of the heat, your fist bite rocks !

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer

Taste review, Ciliegia Piccante or Baccio de Satana (Satan’s Kiss)

This Italian Heirloom variety was on my “need to have” list last year, one with a growing popularity in the Netherlands. So, got it and grew it. I do have to say, the promise of not too hot, and the words Satan’s kiss triggered to buy them too. Just would love to have a funny little cherry chilli with a bit of a kick.

Beautiful pant and jolly great show and all, but this is not a candy. The first time I bit one in half, I did everything but sing. Good grief, this one lovely looking chilli has a stingy heat and really is more than mild. So I tried this chilli over and over again to get what is so special about them. And I am afraid to say, if found nothing special in them taste wise. It is just your regular boring chilli, that looks superb.

We have tried them with peanut butter filled, with cream cheese, and with anchovies making them a load better. But they are small and full off seeds, so it does take a bit of trouble to be able to use them. I for one will not grow them again for tastes, but will grow them for keeping this heirloom alive. If you do have the patience for cleaning the seeds out, I bet they are wonderful in a pickle or brine. Do use a good herbs and a good bit of garlic and salt to get them some flavour.

It is a stunning looking chilli with a good bit of heat but not a special taste.

Sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer

I had a dream

Hot is not a taste, and it is not all what chillies are about.
The constant hammering about hot hotter hottest, keeps a lot off people away from chillies.
And some people just don't seem to get this. Growers, bloggers and seeds sellers keep hammering on the heat.
People do not want pain, but excitement both in taste and experience. That is what a chilli should be, and has been in the past, in history.

So I had a dream, I wanted to get some taste to the world of chilli.
Now that sounds presumptuous, but I started all this, getting sick of all the hot hotter hottest chilli.
Really, if you ask how a chilli tastes, the answer normally is: Hot, hotter or hottest. Now excuse me, but that has little to do with taste, it is only one aspect. Have you ever given website selling chilli seeds a good look? Did you ever see one with a satisfying taste report to it?

So I had a dream, to taste as many chillies that I can, so if people would ask, they can put a real taste report on their sites.
Now I am working myself through chilli after chilli, and some I had to taste another time again. Had a cold 2 times, so was not able to taste. Still I did a good bunch and writing down as much as possible, some 30 taste reports pending.

Then being almost winter and so, I started to look at the "need to taste" list for next year. This year I had 110 varieties, so what am I going to do this coming season? Looking over varieties, it started to dawn on me, it will be hard to succeed. There are around 4500 varieties, I tasted some 180 this year, getting send from all over the world. So if I get to taste 200 next year, it will take me 22,5 years to taste them all. Ok, so why was I rushing? Can I keep this dream for the next 22 odd years?
So after this epiphany about tasting, I took a 4 days break from tasting, made a good picture while checking seeds with an antique loupe..

About good taste:
Video reviews do soo seldom get my and keep my attention. Low quality with loads of background noise, and nothing else to show for. A lot of them are utter useless, not describing any taste, or have like a 5 minute trailer and 1 minute or so with something that might say something about taste. There are also video's on Youtube about most silly tricks like sticking chilli powder up your nose. Or even tasteless video's about challenges eating 10 chillies, where just one would be enough to spice up a whole cow, with throwing up and all.
Now subscribe to my youtube channel? No! Are you serious ?
Or worse, former car sellers selling the next worse chilli, talking it to heaven with a mouth full of chilli, mentioning certain websites that sell them over and over again. Who is going to believe that? Booho I want to see taste !

So I made 2 episodes of chilli video reviews, that are out of this world silly! I tried to copy the Young Ones from the BBC a bit. Soooo:  Subscribe to my channel !

Really subscribe to my channel !

I mentioned a few video reviewers that I did like in a former post, but I have to tell you it was a huge relief to get pointed out a week ago to the video reviews of Tmudder, and Volker Berlin together with Felix from Pfefferhaus.de
These guys do have taste, and thank God for good video reviews. Rant is over, and I will get back to tasting again soon, please do excuse me for the dip I had.

Yours sincerely

Bart J. Meijer