Re: [CH] I could cry.
jim@wildpepper.com
Mon, 18 Aug 2003 17:07:24 -0500
Easy now, old feller! :-)
No two people are going to define hot the same way. I've just spent the
last two weeks at our State Fair explaining that to folks. There are no
industry standards for defining what is 'hot'. It is left up to each
manufacturer based on their own definitions. I've had MANY MANY a self
declared chile-head state that the Death Sauce was plenty hot enough for
them. Heck, I even had a lot of them squawk at my mild as being "hot
enough & I like hot stuff". I learned a long time ago the world doesn't
revolve around my definition of things :-P
Blair is as upstanding a person as you will meet in this business. One
of the few commerical people still opting to make his sauces here rather
than in Costa Rica. There's also a good chance that there's some of my
chiles in that bottle of Death Sauce you tried. He is one of my better
customers & I've an acre of chocolate habaneros in the ground for him
this year.
His Death Sauce was also named many years ago, before the habanero
craze, back when people thought Tabasco was an after life experience.
If you have one of his newer bottles (he upped the heat level a few
years back) than you have something that I also would consider and label
as 'hot' as well. Not unpleasantly so, just a nice every day kind of
heat level & one that I don't care to exceed on regular occasion.
The problem we manufacturers have is that the world isn't made up of
upper level Chileheads like yourself- we must take into consideration
what the general public would consider as hot.
I tell folks at the shows that I do that there are over 1 million
questions that can be asked about chile peppers & I can answer all of
them except one: Is this hot?
-Jim C
Mild to Wild(R)