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Testing hot sauces on people

S

sporehead

As a spicy food lover I am nearly useless for opinions on heat level when compared to non-hotheads. How do you test your sauces on people? If you make superhot sauces, who can you share them with that is willing to burn? At this point superhots are a comfortable burn in my mouth and making milder sauces is especially difficult. If I want to make a sauce that most people can tolerate, how can I appreciate my own creation if it isn't even spicy to me before I let others try it?
 
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I keep all the ingredients the same and exchange various peppers to raise or lower the heat level. For example those who like mild I use jalapeno,serrano and thai peppers, for those who like a medium I use habs, jalapeno and serrano. For those who like hot I add a few superhots and some powder to the sauce. Most people tell me if it to hot so I change the peppers to their liking.
 
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I find that once they know I'm a chilihead they shy away from my food creations altogether. Not sure how to help ya. Most of what I make is just for my consumption. I did find a guy that wanted really hot recently and nearly burned his face off with my pickled supers. He liked it, but was shocked at the heat building to an inferno.
 
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Also I've been selling about a dozen jars a week at work. Like a drug addict they become hooked and want more and more lol......................Today I just made a mild batch of 6 jars that had 6 habs, 3 serrano and 3 jalapenos. 
 
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People that know me will not eat anything I offer
My homemade fresh peach ice cream is scary to them :)
I told'em the fresh Strawberry Reaper sauce wasn't being offered LOL!
 
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It's not good to burn unwitting victims, and I'm sure that's not what you're doing. 
 
You just have to find a few stupid crazy people who like hot stuff who are willing to try your stuff.  They're probably about 1 out of 20 that can handle the really hot stuff. 
 
For those semi-chileheads, it's good if you can relate your sauce to a know heat level like..."twice as hot as Tabasco" .....etc...
 
Have Fun~~~
 
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Mmmm thanks guys. One other thing I've done is tell people that know my preferences to try a hot version and get their face melted before they try milder ones. Sort of giving them an endorphin dump before trying milder things for a quick tolerance build. Jalapenos were hot to my girlfriend two months ago, but now she demands I make more peach scorpion salsa before I even think about it.

@Savina: do your milds burn you at all?
@Salsalady: "x as hot as tabasco" is a good tip. Read your hot sauce book btw. Very nice. Lot's of yummy tips in there that I won't forget.
 
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