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California hot sauce expo review!

Edmick

Edmick

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Where to start.. When we first got to the expo it was $12 to park (welcome to california). Then we were faced with the issue of whether to pay the standard $10 admission or the $40 admission which included a t-shirt, bottle of High river sauce "tears of the sun" (which is amazing) and 5 beer tokens. The $40 choice was the clear best value so thats what we went with. The first booth i went to i accidentally tried the hottest first and set my mouth on fire so i had to take 5 to regroup. I worked my way through about half the vendors trying some amazing sauces and and found ourselves at the puckerbutt booth (smokin ed currie in attendance). Luckily we got there early enough before the crowd started to form and i had a chance to take a picture with smokin Ed and pick his brain for a few minutes about what he had in the works. He told me about his new pepper that was over 3 million scoville and a little about his humble beginnings and passion for growing peppers. It was a very pleasant experience with a truly down to earth guy. I ended up leaving with a few reaper pods that i wanted for seed and an autographed bottle of hot sauce from smokin Ed. Ultimately i ended up trying countless samples from numerous amazing vendors. The only problem that i have is the lack of diversity in all the sauces. Everything was either habanero, cayenne, ghost pepper or reaper. When i pressed some of the vendors as to why they don't use any more "exotic" varieties and the answer was always the same. "Not commercially available in large quantities". It was a little disappointing that i didn't see the wide array of peppers that i know exist being used like i thought i would see. But nonetheless, the hundreds of sauces available for sample were all very tasty. Fast forward to when i get home.. I had a burning desire to eat one of those reaper pods i got from smokin Ed, so thats exactly what i did. The flavor was average but the pain was insane. I drank an even more insane amount of milk which hardly helped at all and about a half bottle of pepto bismol. Lol. The stomach cramps have subsided and now i think its time for bed.. All in all, it was a great day and i met some pretty cool people. This is my pain from the reaper.
 
Any more info on the 3.3 million record entrant? Also, be very careful with Ed's sauces. His Squeezin's line is made with so much cold pressed chilli oil (non-chemical extract) that the sauces are reportedly hotter than the peppers themselves.

As for the variety of pepper types, most companies over here seem to have something Jalapeño, something Lemon Drop and/or something Scorpion, in addition to those, but there is definitely an element of everyone having the same pepper pool to pull from. Sad as it is, suppliers will only grow what they can sell so, unless you can garuntee taking an entire season's stock, they aren't going to grow something just for you.

Otherwise, you have to be the grower yourself.
 
hogleg said:
:clap:
 
Were there any hot eating contest??
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Yea they had a slaytanic burrito challenge and a chicken death wing challenge when i was there. I only stayed for about 4 hours but its going on today too with other challenges. The last challenge of today is a reaper eating contest. I woke up in the middle of the night by the way with excruciating cramps from eating that reaper. Not fun.
 
spicefreak said:
Any more info on the 3.3 million record entrant? Also, be very careful with Ed's sauces. His Squeezin's line is made with so much cold pressed chilli oil (non-chemical extract) that the sauces are reportedly hotter than the peppers themselves.

As for the variety of pepper types, most companies over here seem to have something Jalapeño, something Lemon Drop and/or something Scorpion, in addition to those, but there is definitely an element of everyone having the same pepper pool to pull from. Sad as it is, suppliers will only grow what they can sell so, unless you can garuntee taking an entire season's stock, they aren't going to grow something just for you.

Otherwise, you have to be the grower yourself.
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I tried to press him for more info on the pepper and he didn't give too much info. He did say that it was 3.189 million or 3.198 million. Something like that. He also said it was accepted by Guinness though so its just a matter of time. Its apparently a really complicated process with lawyers and all sorts of red tape.
 
They have to take an average SHU, not just one pod that reaches 3.8 or whatever.  That's what was happening several years ago.  One pod would eclipse the previous record holder.  Bhuts average around 800,000, but the one sample that reached 1mil+ was what set the record.  Now they take a bunch of pods from a bunch of plants to get a consistent average.  Ed Currie is a pretty cool cat.  He's growing some pretty crazy stuff.  
 
LDHS had a food challenge in Portland, not sure if he was on the schedule for Cali.  I couldn't attend this year, just too much going on.  I miss being there, and miss seeing friends.
 
 
 
Edmick said:
I tried to press him for more info on the pepper and he didn't give too much info. He did say that it was 3.189 million or 3.198 million. Something like that. He also said it was accepted by Guinness though so its just a matter of time. Its apparently a really complicated process with lawyers and all sorts of red tape.
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Curious. My sources, who work with him directly, told me over 3.3 million. Could be chinese whispers I guess, or the difference between small and large sample groups. Or the difference between peak and average but, if so, that's one increadibly consistent pepper, to vary by less than five percent.
 
Anyway, cheers for the update, interesting to hear that it's now a confirmed record but not publicly announced. Wonder what that means. Interesting, to say the least.
 
Salsalady: As I understand it, only the Reaper itself currently holds a record for average heat but yes, that is how it's done now. Largely due to controvercy surrounding the Naga Viper.
Which makes it odd that the Moruga Scorpion managed to get in under the old rules but whatever.
 
salsalady said:
They have to take an average SHU, not just one pod that reaches 3.8 or whatever.  That's what was happening several years ago.  One pod would eclipse the previous record holder.  Bhuts average around 800,000, but the one sample that reached 1mil+ was what set the record.  Now they take a bunch of pods from a bunch of plants to get a consistent average.  Ed Currie is a pretty cool cat.  He's growing some pretty crazy stuff.  
 
LDHS had a food challenge in Portland, not sure if he was on the schedule for Cali.  I couldn't attend this year, just too much going on.  I miss being there, and miss seeing friends.
 
 
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Well from what i understand, the average from his new pepper is over 3 million. And to make matters more complicated, i hear that Guinness requires any new entries to be grown out for 4 years or something to make sure its not just a fluke. He told me it was just accepted by Guinness this week so we'll see. Apparently from what he told me, its a done deal but theres lawyers involved with alot of red tape so who knows when it'll be official.
 
salsalady said:
They have to take an average SHU, not just one pod that reaches 3.8 or whatever.  That's what was happening several years ago.  One pod would eclipse the previous record holder.  Bhuts average around 800,000, but the one sample that reached 1mil+ was what set the record.  Now they take a bunch of pods from a bunch of plants to get a consistent average.  Ed Currie is a pretty cool cat.  He's growing some pretty crazy stuff.  
 
LDHS had a food challenge in Portland, not sure if he was on the schedule for Cali.  I couldn't attend this year, just too much going on.  I miss being there, and miss seeing friends.
 
 
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He was pretty tight lip about everything. All he would tell me was scoville (which was 3.189 or 3.198). I wish i was paying attention more but my mouth was on fire from one of his sauces but my wife insists that is what he said. Either way, he did tell me that it was accepted by Guinness. Lets see how long it takes for them to make it public. After eating that whole reaper yesterday, i doubt that i will be trying it but its still interesting nonetheless.
 
I was not questioning Ed Currie at all, just explaining a little.  If he said it is over 3mil, you can bank on it that it is.   I think new varieties have to be grown out for 7 generations.
 
Not going to try the new one???? CHICKEN!!!  
 
 
Just Kidding!!!!
I ain't gonna try it~  I is skeerd--- :lol:
 
 
 
salsalady said:
I was not questioning Ed Currie at all, just explaining a little.  If he said it is over 3mil, you can bank on it that it is.   I think new varieties have to be grown out for 7 generations.
 
Not going to try the new one???? CHICKEN!!!  
 
 
Just Kidding!!!!
I ain't gonna try it~  I is skeerd--- :lol:
 
 
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Nope i aint gonna eat it. I was up majority of the night with stomach cramps after eating a whole reaper yesterday. Ok, i might try it but I'm not looking forward to it. Damnit! Lol
 
peer pressure, a couple beers.....that's all it takes.  :lol:
 
salsalady said:
peer pressure, a couple beers.....that's all it takes.  :lol:
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Thats all it took yesterday. I had about 6 beers at the expo and a couple more at my buddies when i got home. He said, "eat it" and i said, "ok!". Bad decision.
 
yep, that's usually how the really good videos get made.  
 
Been there, done that-  Regretted it the next day!!!
 
salsalady said:
yep, that's usually how the really good videos get made.  
 
Been there, done that-  Regretted it the next day!!!
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They actually did video me eating it and it wasn't pretty. Alot of cussing and dry heaving.
 
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