“Don’t drink water or alcohol, it will only spread the burn. This is not a chili relleno.”Īnd should you decide take on the Reaper and lose, as I did, there is only one proper way to extinguish the fire. “You can use one chili to spice up a 5 gallon pot of chili to impart flavor and heat. “A little goes a long ways,” said Schueller. “If you touch your eyes, be prepared to cry.”Īnd cooks should observe extreme caution. Schueller cautions that if you don’t wear plastic gloves while handling these peppers, it’s critical that you wash your hands with soap and hot water for at least 30 seconds, scrubbing up to the elbows, to make sure you’ve removed the oils. We do everything legally and label our products to satisfy our customers, but there are still people out there that don’t pay attention.” “Even our chili jars and dry chilies are labeled with Scoville heat scales and warnings. For distribution, the peppers are placed in plastic containers with warning labels clearly marked. If you’re not raised in a family where eating peppers is normal, you might as well spray yourself with mace.”Īlthough there are a few employees at Melissa’s who can eat several Reapers at a time with no problem, workers are required to wear rubber gloves when handling these peppers. My advice is not to take the $50 or $100 bet and eat these peppers. “Then you have those novices that think they’re smart and take the bet. “There are chili heads out there that love the burn,” said Schueller. A box of nine peppers will cost around $10. They can also be purchased at Stater Bros. Melissa’s began distributing them in 2014. Reapers are grown in the Netherlands and imported into the United States.

“That’s a jump of 1 million Scovilles.” (At that point I was feeling judged.) “People have said to me, ‘I’ve been able to eat hot jalapenos, but ate the Ghost pepper and had to go to the hospital,” said Schueller.

The vein of the chili carries this oil to the seeds, which are the second-hottest part. Chili peppers contain capsaicin oil, the extract used in mace, which is the only thing hotter than a Reaper pepper. So Schueller gave me a little lesson in chili anatomy. It’s the second bite that gets you because you’re biting into the vein and that’s the hottest part of the chili pepper. “The tip has very little heat and that’s what most people eat first. “That’s the mistake everyone makes,” he said. Then I popped the whole thing in my mouth. I explained to him that after biting off the tip of the pepper to taste it, I was surprised that it wasn’t as hot as I had expected. The pain usually lasts only an hour,” he said in disbelief and wondered why I would ever eat one. “No you didn’t! I’ve never heard of that before. That explains my physical distress and the reaction of Robert Schueller, general manager of Melissa’s World Variety Produce in Vernon, when he learned I had consumed one whole. (Pepper spray can be up to 5 million units or more.) The next pepper down on the scale is the Ghost pepper at 1 million. A jalapeno measures 8,000 Scoville units, the Carolina Reaper measures 2.2 million and the Scorpion measures 2 million. The Carolina Reaper was specifically bred for heat.Ī pepper’s heat is measured in Scoville units. My painful episode lasted nearly six hours after eating an entire pepper, and not just any pepper. Doubled over in pain, I asked myself, “What did I just do?” Plus, my insurance probably wouldn’t cover my random act of stupidity. Calling for paramedics? I was at work and that would be embarrassing. It had already entered my digestive tract. Vomiting felt like an exorcism because my body was desperate to rid itself of the demon inside.īut it was too late. I panicked as I made my way to the bathroom, hoping I wouldn’t black out. Chills ran down my spine and the pain in my stomach became unbearable. After two hours, the burn cut like a knife. Within an hour, my stomach began to burn. Finally the pain subsided and it was over, and I felt like a stud. Water ran profusely from my eyes and nose as beads of sweat broke out on my forehead.

My throat began to swell and my eyes felt like they were popping out of their sockets. For the first 20 minutes, each breath I took felt like I was fanning white hot coals inside my mouth.

Eating california reaper