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Haunted by a ghost pepper + ghost pepper tomatillo salsa
Published: 6/28/2012 9:00 AM
Last Modified: 6/27/2012 6:42 PM







It's never pleasant when food comes back to haunt you.

Like that half-pound of Brach's orange-slice candy I inhaled Christmas Eve 1986, which led to my spending Christmas '86 in a fetal position both in my grandmother's spare bedroom and on her bathroom floor. I haven't had an orange slice since.

A Tulsa World editor who loves spicy food, particularly habanero chilies, brought Bhut Jolokia to the canteen this week. Heard of it? It's also called the ghost pepper, said to be THE hottest chili on Earth.

According to our friends at Bhut-Pepper.com, the ghost pepper has been around for many centuries and is believed to have originated in Assam, India. The word Bhut, given from the Bhutias people, means "ghost" and may have been given the name because of the way the heat sneaks up on the one who eats it. In 2007, it was certified as the hottest chili pepper on the planet in The Guinness Book of World Records.

Anyway, the editor, whom we'll call Richie, brought in a baggie with several dried ghost peppers. They're so hot, he used plastic gloves to open the bag and handle the contents. The instructions suggested reconstituting the peppers in water for 15-20 minutes, but he just chopped up half of one and put it in his soup.

"The first few bites didn't seem so hot, and I added a habanero," reported Richie, as 007, Rita and I were anxious to see him sweat. Which is probably not something I should admit in a blog he might read, but whatever.

Apparently, that wasn't the smartest decision on Richie's part, he said.

"My lips and throat are burning, my nose is running, and I'm actually sweating some," he said. "I really love hot peppers and spicy food. Which is good. Because this is about to burn my head off. It seems to get steadily hotter even after you've eaten."

I was nigh to worrying about him, but then he added that, were he still in college, he might have fun pranking his roommate with it.

"I'm not dumb enough today to try that with my wife, though," he admitted. Good call.

He passed by about 30 minutes later, his mouth red -- like that time in 2000 when I tried a lip-plumping balm before going out dancing and spent two hours explaining to people that I didn't have a botched cosmetic procedure.

Anyway, Richie later speculated the heat may have come from the seeds -- maybe two or three, max -- that made it into his soup.

"I can't imagine how people could eat a lot of this stuff," he wrote in a later email after the burning passed and sweating had stopped.

Are you a fan of hot food? Then try this salsa from the folks at Bhut-Pepper.com and let me know what you think.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde with Ghost Pepper
Makes 3 cups
1 1/2 pounds tomatillos
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup water to re-hydrate the pepper
1/2 cup fresh water (to add to salsa mixture)
1 dried ghost pepper (no stem)
Salt, to taste

1. Remove papery husks from tomatillos, and rinse well. Cut the tomatillos in half, and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin.

2. Meanwhile, re-hydrate the ghost pepper by adding it to a sauce-pan with 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil and let the pepper simmer for 5 minutes after boiling.

3. Place tomatillos, lime juice, olive oil, onions, cilantro and re-hydrated chili pepper, sugar and 1/2 cup of fresh water (discard the water used for re-hydrating the pepper) in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt. Cool in refrigerator.

Peace, love and haunted peppers ... XOXO

P.S.: As I learned the hard way one fateful Valentine's Day weekend, WASH YOUR HANDS after chopping jalapenos because your Valentine won't appreciate it later. Just sayin'.


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Living Wright

While other kids were watching "The Smurfs," Scene Writer Jason Ashley Wright was tuned in to "Style with Elsa Klensch." By fourth grade, he knew he wanted to write, and spent almost three years publishing a weekly teen-oriented magazine, Teen-Zine -- circulation: 2. After earning a degree in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi, he became the medical reporter and teen board coordinator for the Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, a Gannett newspaper. Eight months later, with visions of Elsa dancing in his head, he applied for the fashion writer position at the Tulsa World, where he began working on Aug. 3, 1998. He is now a general assignment reporter for Scene.

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