Re: [CH] Fw: How would you taste 20 different hot powders?

AndyB (CH2060@xemaps.com)
Fri, 02 Apr 2010 20:08:14 -0400 

Tom,
I am glad to volunteer.  I can taste hot powders directly.
I'm not familiar with Calvin's Powder, but I have tasted Blair's Death 
Rain directly.

I would need to get a small amount of Calvin's Powder for reference.  
Then a small sample of each of your powders that pass your initial 
screening, and be sure to identify and record each one that you send 
me.  I'll assess it against Calvin's, and get back to you.

This is not to discourage you in any way from testing it with sour 
cream, as that may be a primary application for it.

This also serves as an excuse to mention a tasting that I did a couple 
of years ago:
I directly compared Red Savina with Bhut Jalokia, each of which I grew 
and powdered myself (not smoked and without the seeds).  The Red Savina 
was quite hot, but for me, quite tolerable. The Bhut Jalokia really 
pushed my limit - but I still could taste it. The Red Savina had the 
better flavor; richer and with the essence of citrus common to the 
habanero group.  The Bhut Jalokia did not, and had a "thinner" taste.  
Although per milligram the Bhut Jalokia was far hotter than the Red 
Savina, on a per-pod basis there is probably more total heat in the Red 
Savina, because the flesh of the Red Savina is thick, while that of the 
Bhut Jalokia was thin.  Additionally, I had to use some care when 
preparing the Red Savina; whereas the Bhut Jalokia required _extreme_ 
care, else you can/will get Hunan hand - Hunan everything.

My conclusion was that I did not need the Bhut Jalokia; as the Red 
Savina yielded as much or more heat and had a better flavor.  Now, I 
produce my own hot powders and liquid extracts, primarily based upon the 
Red Savina.

Perhaps this will help to explain
     non-CHers   >>>  Moderates   >>>  Extremists  >>>   Andy & Doug B

Regards,
AndyB

Tom Greaves wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- From: Tom Greaves
> To: chile-heads@GlobalGarden.com
> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 9:40 AM
> Subject: How would you taste 20 different hot powders?
>
> In about a week, 2 chileheads and myself will try to reproduce the 
> Calvin's Powder.  We have 16 different dried chile varieties and will 
> try various combinations to see if we can get close to the formula.  
> The biggest question we have is how to go about tasting the 20 to 30 
> different combinations that we have in mind.  Our current thought is 
> to put about 2 tablespoons of sour cream in each cup then mix in about 
> 1/8 teaspoon of the powder mix.  We will do that about an hour in 
> advance of the tasting.
>
> Any ideas or suggestions?  We have all the peppers listed on the 
> bottle except Rocoto and Hawaiian as we couldn't find any of them.  
> Jim thinks it was heavy in Aji Amarillo, so we will use about 25% of 
> that in each mix.
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