My reapers are finally ready to be collected. I grow a variety of peppers to use in a million different ways, but the reaper I grew mostly for fun. I'll probably dehydrate them and grind them into a powder, or give them away a few for fun.
However, I would like to actually taste what they're like. What's the best strategy? Scrape off a bit of skin? Penetrate with a toothpick and taste that? Bite off the tail?
by BloonsBug
26 Comments
As you mentioned grinding it into powder is fine. Putting one inside a pickle brine will make all the other vegetables spicy. But if you want to eat it directly “without dying” just cut a very small slice and try it.
Just eat a tiny piece, like the size of an acid tab, chew it fully and enjoy.
It’s my view that if you don’t at least take a portion of whatever you’ve grown, you won’t *really* know what to do with it culinarily. And trust, as someone that’s smoked a lot of stimulants (8 years good now, insert sober axiomatic expression here) when I tasted mine that mule fucking *kicks* baby, and the endorphin rush honestly lasts longer than the finest crack.
Just mind the eyes and mucosa.
Lovely looking pepper mate. I think you’ve gotta just bite the bullet, literally lol. Just give it a tiny bite though or to be more accurate just cut a tiny slither off. Maybe drink a glass of milk and/or eat some yoghurt just before too to help the stomach out, mind the lips too lol
Tip of the pepper will be less spicy.
I use a sharp knife and slice very thin to put on a sandwich. Starches, mayo, and cheese will keep you from getting too lit up.
Eat the tail. Least spicy part.
Ratio = 1 Gallon of ice cream /reaper 😁
Mangarie 🌶️
Another advice: before eating a tiny piece of those reapers, make sure it’s not on an empty stomach because the cramps would be worse. Also have something nearby to extinguish the flames if the ordeal becomes unbearable in the mouth. I personally prefer yogurt with at least 4% fat, straight out of the fridge. Good luck and enjoy your peppers 🙂
I’m sure you’re aware, but just to reiterate for anyone out there – make sure to do your dehydrating *outside*, unless you wanna effectively pepper spray your entire home 😂
You could just slice the tail off but it might not have the most flavor way out there and kinda dry. I personally would cut the tail off then make a slice out of the end. Kinda like a jar of jalapeno slices how they are circles. Then cut the circle in half and maybe in half again lmao if your not used to reapers or scorpions. I’ll cut up a whole reaper for ramen, or my bowl of chili or on a burger but I’ve been eating super hots for quite some time.
Try a peice of the tail, heats not bad
Higher tolerance= easier to taste all the flavor notes!
Make a hot sauce and be sure to put at least half a bell pepper and half a tomato. Since it’s a Carolina reaper, id recommend a whole big tomato.
You start in the winter by building up your tolerance. Increase the heat level throughout winter and spring and then you’ll be able to eat slivers of your super hot peppers.
Also, side note. Why grow a pepper that you can’t tolerate eating?
I used 3 smaller ones to make 16oz of salsa de molcajete. If you used 1 or 2 I think it would be perfect. I just wouldn’t char the reapers. That’s the only thing i skipped. You could also rough chop everything by hand or use a blender.
Really no other way to put it. If you’re brand new to superhots, spit, don’t swallow.
Take a decent sized bite, chew it up, get a feel for the heat, eject the chewed parts into the trash. While reapers give more of a ‘throat burn’, you’ll feel the heat and you’ll still get some of the capsaicin the way you’d experience it if you ate the pod, but the dosing is much smaller. Unlike cutting a tiny piece, you’ll get a bit of the pith (placenta of the pepper where the seeds develop) as well as the outer/inner layers.
Bite down hard and ride the lightning. Remeber… it has a half life.
The tail flesh has almost no spice, you can also try cutting the skin only but my reapers have such a thin skin it doesn’t work too well and makes your hand lethal eye weapons for a week.
Cut the tail off, chew it up, and spit it out. If the heat is too much, rinse your mouth out dont drink the water as it will make you stomach upset. Try and avoid getting it on your tongue as the heat will stay on your tongue longer than the rest of your mouth.
The tail (cheat piece) will have the least capsaicin, increasing towards the stalk. Good luck.
One bite at a time.
I feel this way about my sugar rush pepper! 🤣 Im hoping to get fruit soon and I’m afraid to try it
I have a story from last year. I ate ghost peppers in 2023 all summer. Well last year I threw some reapers into the mix. I was excited to try my first reaper, and I found they weren’t that much hotter than a ghost pepper, at least on the tastebuds. So I ate the pepper, and I was cocky, because most of the heat subsided quicker than I thought and I was very proud of myself.
Fast forward 20 minutes. I suddenly felt a little heart burn come on. One minute later, I started to sweat and a wave of anxiety came over me. I got up and started walking around thinking that would help. Well.. the heartburn got worse and worse and anxiety quickly turned to panic. I told my wife, “get the keys, you’ve gotta take me to urgent care.” So she’s pissed off. She’s like, “ok, but there’s nothing they can do, but whatever I’ve gotta change out of these clothes first.” Well that seemed like it took a fricken hour. While waiting, I took my shirt off and was laying on the storage room floor trying to cool down. I was in agonizing pain. I was rolling around on the floor frantically. I started smacking the air return duct on the air conditioning system yelling, “where the fuck are you, I’m dying here!!!”
So she finally comes downstairs, and we get into the car, and I turn on the a/c full blast with all the vents pointed at me. It felt sooooooo good!!!! We got about a mile down the road and the pain started to subside. Another mile I had fully recovered. She asked me, “do you still think you need urgent care?” I said no, and we went to Chic Fil A and got milkshakes.
Let’s just say that I consumed one pepper, and only one pepper. The plant produced some amazing looking peppers and I looked at them with disgust. I threw them around the house hoping deer would eat them, hoping they would fuck off and stop eating all the “deer resistant” landscaping we planted. They never touched them. 🙁
Moral: research what you need to do to prep for just eating one. I suggest slicing them and putting them on a good sandwich or something. Needless to say,
https://preview.redd.it/i1ma2n5y88ff1.jpeg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17ca300eecd852e8b0d44b464700807ab850906f
Bite it and have a glass of cold milk ready. Casein inhibits capsaicin.
if you are making powder anyway, try making a salt: I have reaper salt, ghost salt, primotalii salt, it’s a great way to add a bit of the flavor of the pepper to a dish or like, a slice of pizza, without having a mouthful of raw pepper. and you can taste the salt by itself too, dipping in a toothpick is a great way. and it lasts forever, wont spoil, etc
Pickle them.