How hot is hot?

By V. Paul Reynolds

At deer camps or fishing camps that I have frequented over the years, many of the men I share meals with are into the hot sauce big time. We are talking hot sauces with names like Ultra Death,  Kick Ass Hot Sauce, or Rooster Reaper. My own sons are into the hot seasonings, often dosing their scrambled eggs or whatever they happen to be eating at the time.

Not being into hot and spicy at all personally, I find this addiction to culinary fire perplexing, but also kind of intriguing. What makes these hot sauce addicts tick? Why would someone want to contaminate a perfectly good dish or meal with a condiment that inflicts pain?

Must be a man thing, right? In many cultures, I have read, enduring pain or discomfort can be seen as a demonstration of strength and toughness, qualities often valorized in traditional concepts of masculinity.

My neighbor and outdoorsman, Rick Maltz, would be the ideal subject if you were a sociology major doing a masters thesis on what we can call “hot addicts.” Rick clearly takes pride in his tolerance for hot and, pardon the pun, relishes any opportunity to ingest the hottest sauce going. He survived the infamous One Chip Challenge, among others. He takes on all comers.

With patience, he explained to me that there is hot and then there is hot! The degree of hotness is actually measurable by what is called Scoville Heat Units. Seriously. The Scoville scale measures the heat or spiciness of peppers and hot sauces, expressed in Scoville Heat Units. This scale quantifies the concentration of capsaicin, the chemical compound that gives peppers their characteristic heat. The Scoville scale was developed by Wilbur Scoville in 1912.

What’s the hottest pepper in the world, you ask? It is the Carolina Reaper, an incendiary chili pepper developed in South Carolina in 1912. The Reaper pepper is a fireball that contains 2.2 million Scoville Heat Units. A  close second is the Scorpion pepper, at 2 million SHUs. Third is the Ghost Pepper at 1 million SHUs.

Now the well known jalapeno, which I would not eat if you paid me, is mere child’s play at only 8,000 thousand SHUs.

The Mother Bomb, I understand, of hot sauces is one called Flatline. It is comprised of all of the big three peppers enumerated above. Of course, neighbor Maltz  is in possession of Flatline, but even he treats it with the utmost caution and regard. “A little dab will do ya,” says he.

Not to get too Freudian, but some men, and perhaps some women, probably find an adrenaline rush from the risk taking when it comes to ingesting hot sauces that have an unforgettable kick, or that can make your eyes water and your tongue burn. And maybe they like the challenge. 

“I like the afterburn,”  says Maltz, “it is relaxing.”

If you want to really find some interesting lines of hot sauces with high SHUs check out the Pepper Palace chain or Capt. Mowatt’s in Portland.

But keep a fire hose handy!

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide and host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network. He has authored three books. Online purchase information is available at www.sportingjournal.com, Outdoor Books.