Re: [CH] Red Savina vs. Bhut Jolokia
Jonathan Smillie (jonathan.smillie@gmail.com)
Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:51:05 -0400
I have grown Jolokias this year for the first time, and there is no
mistaking them, certainly not side-by-side, for any kind of habanero.
Very different appearance - long, with a rough and bumpy exterior unique
in my personal experience.
As to the heat and flavor, my observations are that
- the Jolokia has not only a sharper (more immediately observable) heat
than the habanero, but that it builds for longer before achieving its
full strength, so that while the very first taste might not give a
sensation of overpowering heat, it will build up to a much greater level
- that it is more profound (lingers for a longer period on the tongue
and in the mouth),
- that it is an actual physical heat (while habaneros feel "chile-pepper
hot", the Jolokia feels as if I have actually put something that is
temperature-hot in my mouth, as if I've drunk coffee that is too hot).
Note that I have not yet been foolhardy enough to eat a whole (or even a
sizable chunk of a part of) one by itself. These observations are based
on mixing chopped Jolokia into salsa in the same proportions as I
normally would habanero; most recently, I minced one Jolokia the size of
two habaneros and put it in about two cups of salsa, and I find that
while not every bite is overpoweringly hot, I end up after a half cup or
so feeling that I have eaten something that pushes the top end of my
heat scale.
Jonathan
On 10/21/2010 5:45 PM, dan combs wrote:
> Krogers has a small 1/2 pint clamshell of alleged "Ghost" Bhut
> Jolokias for $3.99, fresh, from Uesugi Farms, Inc. of Gilroy, Calif.
> 95020. I thought they looked like Red jamakes or maybe even a Savina,
> but I bought them anyway. I stared at them for two nights and then
> popped a quarter of one in my mouth and went to bed. Not much to them.
>
> I emailed Chile Woman and told her I wanted a few Bhuts and took the
> tray out to her to show her. She agreed they were red habs of some
> kind. I got some Bhuts from her and now I am staring at them,
> wondering about how sane I am. She said she'd tried the Bhuts and
> wasn't interested in repeating the experience. But my point is faux
> Bhuts appear to have arrived.
>
> carpo
>
> At 12:20 AM 10/20/2010, AndyB wrote:
>> This is in regard to my personal observations of Red Savina vs. Bhut
>> Jolokia.
>> A few years ago I grew both under the same conditions and processed
>> them the same.
>>
>> I tasted small fresh flakes of each. After de-seeding and (smoke)
>> drying, I
>> tasted again small flakes of each. Each tine I first tasted the Red
>> Savina, then the Bhut Jalokia.
>>
>> As expected, the Savina was very hot. However, => the Bhut was (gasp)
>> definitely hotter =-O.
>>
>> The Savina definitely had a richer flavor than the Bhut, whose flavor
>> was a
>> bit thin. (I did go back to each to better evaluate the taste.)
>>
>> Before drying, however, the flesh on the Red Savina was much thicker
>> than that
>> of the Bhut, which was very thin. The Savina pod was, on the average,
>> about two
>> to three times heavier than the Bhut.
>>
>> So, for quantity of heat per pod, I found them to be about the same,
>> with
>> the Savina having a slight edge. Additionally, since I am now also
>> doing extracts, which preserves the flavor, I have dropped the
>> Jalokia in favor
>> of the Savina.
>>
>> AndyB
>>
>>
>>
>> On 10/7/2010 5:27 PM, Dave Drum wrote:
>>> Red Savina is the hottest in Guiness. Not hardly. If I had her
>>> address I'd
>>> mail her a couple of the dried bhut jolokia
>>
>>
>>
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>
>