Naga Jolokia - a cautionary tale
Last night, lanovran and myself bought an innocuous-looking box of red peppers called Naga Jolokia. They looked little different than any other pepper you might see in the grocery store. They had slightly wrinkled skin and were a little smaller than my thumb. Honestly, I thought they looked like habañeros or even anaheim peppers, just a different color. We asked the clerk about them and he wasn't very sure about them. He said he thought they were related to ghost chiles, the hottest pepper in the world. The box they came in also said, "REAL HOT" which made me smile.
We bought the peppers along with some vegetable soup, corn and bread with plans to have a nice quiet dinner before attending an evening yoga class. For the most, dinner was quiet. The soup was pleasant and went well with the whole-grain loaf we had picked up. I was particularly hungry that night because I had already worked out over an hour at the gym and we had plans to go back so I ate the soup like a cat takes to canned food - essentially I drove right in.
After the soup, I washed the Naga Jolokia off and handed on to lanovran . I set mine down for a second and took time to prepare. I got out a carton of plain yogurt and a spoon and a carton of milk. I poured half a glass for myself and refilled lanovran 's cup. He laughed and told me he was glad I was prepared. I considered getting out the ketchup and ice cream, too.
We contemplated how much of the peppers we would eat and then bit into the first half. I think I bit into a seed because the pepper's spice was immediately apparent to me. I gasped and made a few noises and proclaimed the obvious, "Oh, that's hot!" lanovran chuckled a little. I don't think he had hit the spice yet. I kept chewing and despite a growing knot of concern in my stomach, swallowed. We both sat, a little proud of our accomplishment and then the real heat of the pepper washed over us.
lanovran immediately compared the pepper to pepper spray, to which he has been subjected and I made quiet whimpering noises. I grabbed the milk and dipped my tongue in it. I swirled it around my mouth and watched lanovran gargle his. I coated my tongue in yogurt and panted, my nose running. Nothing seemed to work. My mouth felt like it could contain the burning levels of hell, Dante's popes, little demons with sticks and all.
I grabbed the ice cream and began scooping it straight into my mouth. I felt a little embarrassed about this, but my mouth hurt so much that pain overuled the necessity for being polite. It didn't help. The burning just kept on keeping on and to make matters worse. I started to feel like the pepper might revisit me. I rubbed my stomach and gulped, the burning sensation followed my saliva down my throat.
Overwhelmed, I ran downstairs and found my gigantic bottle of Tums. I grabbed too and popped them in hopefully. At last, noticeable relief. My stomach still hurt and burping was painful but the worst was over.
We bought the peppers along with some vegetable soup, corn and bread with plans to have a nice quiet dinner before attending an evening yoga class. For the most, dinner was quiet. The soup was pleasant and went well with the whole-grain loaf we had picked up. I was particularly hungry that night because I had already worked out over an hour at the gym and we had plans to go back so I ate the soup like a cat takes to canned food - essentially I drove right in.
After the soup, I washed the Naga Jolokia off and handed on to lanovran . I set mine down for a second and took time to prepare. I got out a carton of plain yogurt and a spoon and a carton of milk. I poured half a glass for myself and refilled lanovran 's cup. He laughed and told me he was glad I was prepared. I considered getting out the ketchup and ice cream, too.
We contemplated how much of the peppers we would eat and then bit into the first half. I think I bit into a seed because the pepper's spice was immediately apparent to me. I gasped and made a few noises and proclaimed the obvious, "Oh, that's hot!" lanovran chuckled a little. I don't think he had hit the spice yet. I kept chewing and despite a growing knot of concern in my stomach, swallowed. We both sat, a little proud of our accomplishment and then the real heat of the pepper washed over us.
lanovran immediately compared the pepper to pepper spray, to which he has been subjected and I made quiet whimpering noises. I grabbed the milk and dipped my tongue in it. I swirled it around my mouth and watched lanovran gargle his. I coated my tongue in yogurt and panted, my nose running. Nothing seemed to work. My mouth felt like it could contain the burning levels of hell, Dante's popes, little demons with sticks and all.
I grabbed the ice cream and began scooping it straight into my mouth. I felt a little embarrassed about this, but my mouth hurt so much that pain overuled the necessity for being polite. It didn't help. The burning just kept on keeping on and to make matters worse. I started to feel like the pepper might revisit me. I rubbed my stomach and gulped, the burning sensation followed my saliva down my throat.
Overwhelmed, I ran downstairs and found my gigantic bottle of Tums. I grabbed too and popped them in hopefully. At last, noticeable relief. My stomach still hurt and burping was painful but the worst was over.