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Trying to find our common denominator

svfd1118

svfd1118

I'm looking for the reason why some people are attracted to very spicy food, and most people run in the other direction.

Mine started very early in life when my Family and Grandmother would go to ChiChi's mexican restaurant. They would load us up with chips and salsa, and my Grandmother would always ask for the "Special Hot Green" salsa that not many people knew about. I remember her eating and loving it, so of course I needed to try it. I remember back in the day (6 or 7 years old) it being very hot on my early hot scale. From then on, whenever a pepper was around (mostly pepperoncinis that my dad would eat) I would have to have some. This became the hook, and then it lead to tabasco on eggs, cholula on steak, spicier and spicer bloody marys, more red pepper flakes to all dishes, you get the point.

This led to a hot sauce sipping competition a couple years ago, and the turning point of my hot career. A female friend of mine from India challenged me to a hot sauce consumption contest. She claimed that she had grown up eating hot foods all her life and a white american guy is never going to have a chance at withstanding the heat like she could. Long story short we brought a bottle of daves ultimate insanity to a bar and began drinking cap fulls and beer until someone bowed out. I won. 1st warning, do not do that, 2nd do not go to the bathroom and forget that you have hot sauce on your fingers, a very unwelcome surprise.

And fast forward to present day where I have 26 pepper plants growing in the front/back of my townhouse and my neighbors think I've got issues, maybe I do but I love growing and eating my peppers and the sauces they make. I'm addicted and that's the bottom line.

Please share your story and your beginnings, I'd love to hear them. I'd really like to try to get a clearer picture of how we got here and why we keep coming back for more heat.

:)
 
I'll post..:) I grew up periodically eating hot stuff cause my mom was a fan...red pepper flakes on pizza, jalapenos..then I strayed for a few years until my sis bought me a habanero plant for a house warming gift when I moved to a townhouse..paper lantern hab as it turned out. I was a virgin pepper grower so it eventually died, but not before I got smart and saved seeds. In turn I hunted the grocery stores for peppers to save seeds and grow. Eventually found this site and others..purchased seeds and ended up with 52 plants last year...have them dried, ground into powder, frozen..now I am the "go to" guy when people I meet are interested in getting their "fix". Yay hot peppers!! :)
 
I grew up in a Jamaican household so spice has always sort of been my thing, but the reason I'm on THP is different. I stuck to and believed in one pepper and one pepper only...the scotch bonnet and was fine with that until I moved from NY to NC and realized that most people couldn't tell the diff between an SB and a Hab. The big shocker was, I couldn't either!!! So close to 7 or so years, I did without my adored pepper until one day I decided to grow my own. This indeavor eventually lead me to to THP and thats when the WORLD OF PEPPERS exploded for me. Haven't looked back since. :]
 
My father grew up in Africa so when he came to Portugal he started growing piri-piri in our backyard.
Over the years I started to enjoy spicy food.
When I got married I felt the need to have my own supply of fresh chilli's. At first I grew piri-piri, then I found this site and now, 4 years later, I'm growing 15+ different chilli's.
Every year I add one or two more varieties.

Until last year my friends came to me to get some chilli pods but now I've managed to get them to grow their own plants, and they are loving the experience! There are few things as satisfying as spicing a meal with one of our own pods.

Bleash
 
Capitone said:
I grew up in a Jamaican household so spice has always sort of been my thing, but the reason I'm on THP is different. I stuck to and believed in one pepper and one pepper only...the scotch bonnet and was fine with that until I moved from NY to NC and realized that most people couldn't tell the diff between an SB and a Hab. The big shocker was, I couldn't either!!! So close to 7 or so years, I did without my adored pepper until one day I decided to grow my own. This indeavor eventually lead me to to THP and thats when the WORLD OF PEPPERS exploded for me. Haven't looked back since. :]
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I have spent every summer of my life down in Lexington, NC. I'm sure you are familiar with Lex and the BBQ that comes out of there, wonderful place!
 
I have been growing hot peppers for 3 years. It all started when I married my wife. She is from Mexico and eats chili for breakfast lunch and dinner. I was never a big pepper fan even though i loved hot sauces and dried hot pepper. After several years i thiought we could save money( what a joke ) if we grew our own . Went to the Depot and bought 4 orange habs and 4 jalapenos. I was hooked. Now I love growing hot peppers( all from seed)and making my own sauces and rubbs. I now have over 15 types of hot peppers (and some sweet for mother in law ) and growing. Now my Wife wishes I never started. Not going to happen. Just bought some 7 pod seeds and close to breaking down and geting some Butch T's . Wife will be angry :mouthonfire:
 
svfd1118 said:
I have spent every summer of my life down in Lexington, NC. I'm sure you are familiar with Lex and the BBQ that comes out of there, wonderful place!
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Hmm, I've heard of Lexington, but know nothing of there BBQ. Is it like an event during the summer or are you just referring to the way they BBQ there in general? If it's an event, let me know when it happens. I may just make a trip to check it out!
 
With my first child, My wife and I would jump out of our chairs if the kid got even close to a bowl of salsa. We would say "Nooooooooooooooo, It’s tooo hot for you.... Stay away!" He now is 5 and won't even think of eating anything spicy.He thinks black pepper is too hot. Our second son, we let him figure it out on his own and he tried salsa at about 22 months. He huffed and puffed and we handed him a bottle of water .... then he went back for more salsa! He is now almost 3 and loves chile. He puts red pepper flakes on his spaghetti and pizza and he just recently ate a plate of enchiladas that was to hot for his mom to eat. I am so excited/worried to see if it develops in to my level of obsession. LOL
 
wow! the green salsa at chi-chis! memories. i haven't been to ch-chis in almost 20 years! anyway , my mother encouraged me to grow and to cook and her dad taught me to fish. these are things that we in america are forgetting how to do. everything is to automated and to easy now a days.it started with hunagarian hot wax peppers and i was hooked! 19 years later here we are. Great thread !
 
Well... was introduces to chiles as a very small child, as spicy food is very common in my area and family especially. I remember the first time I had to run around screaming, trying to put out the fire in my mouth. was about 4-5. :lol:

Although familiar with spicy food, never really liked it. started eating real hot food only in recent years.
 
I'm not sure where my "turning point" was, but do see my tolerance increasing a lot. I remember more than 20 years ago, at the "dare" of a Mexican friend of mine, I ate half of a pickled Jalapeno. It felt like I would feel now, if I were to eat half a Bhut! The pain was intolerable and I ran around panicking, trying various liquids, trying to quell the heat. Now, Jalapeno's are nothing to me. I'm at the point, where I can tolerate 30,000 - 50,000 scovilles without much suffering.

I like planting things from seed and growing cuttings from plants. It is easy to sprout any type of bean, but I have never had any luck transplanting any. I have a small lemon tree on my windowsill that I grew from store bought lemon seed. It is never going to fruit, but it is fun to have. I've always liked Tabasco and have had fun trying hotter sauces. 4 years ago, I tried growing chile peppers from seed. 1st season was a disaster, as I didn't know about hardening off, but got some peppers the next season. Last season wasn't awesome, but my garden produced somewhere between 100 and 150 peppers, which is a record for me. Somewhere along the way, I discovered the hippyseed youtube videos, which have influenced my tastes and my hobby. Somewhere along the way, I discovered this forum which helps me out.
 
When I was a kid I remember my grandparents always keeping a pepper bush on the porch, A wild tiny podded variety from the orange groves!
and I used to dare my sister and aunts to eat em with me! They never would but I loved em!
When I bought my house 20 years ago I thought there were 7 kinds of peppers "in the whole world"!!! :rofl: :rofl:
So I grew em all from pimento to bell!! :lol:
I am still growing in the same spot! but variety has widened to say the least! :beer:

Kevin
 
naganumbness said:
wow! the green salsa at chi-chis! memories. i haven't been to ch-chis in almost 20 years! anyway , my mother encouraged me to grow and to cook and her dad taught me to fish. these are things that we in america are forgetting how to do. everything is to automated and to easy now a days.it started with hunagarian hot wax peppers and i was hooked! 19 years later here we are. Great thread !
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It's so important to have things passed down to the next generations! My Grandmother lived with us when I was in highschool and I learned all of her delicious Italian recipes.

Thanks for all the great responses, very fun to find out your introduction to heat!
 
i think a certain type of people are attracted to hot sauce.mainly people who like risk,challange,and self inflicting pain.not to mention it gives u a sot of euphoric rush ,its like an addiction only this is leagl.if someone calls u crazy or stupid for eating hot sauce then they obviously dont know u know what your doing.an experienced chilliehead will know what heat level he is about to consume before he consumes it,we could be comparable to a wine cousuer.my first eperience was when i was 6 and at a hot sauce convention.my dad took me to daves booth and i waqs going to stick my finger in the sample jar.he grabbed my arm in the snap of a finger and said use the toothpick.but even after doing the tooth pick test i fliped,it lasted all day .it was my first real hot sauce.since then i have been addicted.truth is most americans cant take the heat.but if your started young or have some sence of adventure ect then u are in good shape.
 
Capitone said:
Hmm, I've heard of Lexington, but know nothing of there BBQ. Is it like an event during the summer or are you just referring to the way they BBQ there in general? If it's an event, let me know when it happens. I may just make a trip to check it out!
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If you ever get the chance to try some, you won't be sorry! It's a vinegar based BBQ very specific to that area, very different from KC or Memphis, but very good. They do have a BBQ festival every year, not sure when, I'll have to check, it's good year round though.
 
next year i have got to make it to the fiery food show in alburqerque.i missed this years,i here it really good.it would be my version of disney world. :onfire:
 
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