Category: Sports

Life without spice is boring. This past summer, along with other veggies and flowers, had grown some varieties of peppers too. Few days ago, I plucked couple of peppers from the backyard. They were multicolored and looked interesting, orange/saffron at the top and green at the bottom, evoking images of the Indian national flag. Placed a black peppercorn at the center (to represent the Ahoka Chakra in the flag) and took a picture 🇮🇳. Few days later the peppers had turned bright red. They were sporting a wrinkled and pocked look. Out of curiosity I cut a piece from the bottom of the red-colored pepper and popped it in my mouth. Not too hot I thought initially, for a few seconds. In the next 30 seconds my initial impression changed drastically. As the heat kicked in and burned its way, my eyes started watering, my nose was running and my hands were burning from contact with the pepper. The thought that I had lost my mojo to handle heat was very troubling to me. It’s like a body blow for a person whose job responsibilities also involve taking heat for the team. Anyways, chopped a few more pieces of the pepper, added them to the dinner dish to spice it up. The pepper must have been singing “I’m hot, hot, hot!” as it coursed through. I cleaned my hands few more times with soap before my night sleep. The morning after, my system got cleaned pretty fast. 😂 While taking a bath, as my fingers came in contact with my eyes the eyes started burning. I was thinking “Whoa, what was that? Is that heat from the pepper from previous night even after cleaning my hands multiple times with soap?” 😡

To check out what pepper I had, downloaded an app only to find that the plant was generally identified as belonging to pepper family that listed cayenne, habanero etc. What the heck, I can identify a pepper myself without using an app. Even taking picture of the pepper for the app did not yield specific result. I took one pepper to work to check if any of my co-workers could identify it. Not much luck there. After googling images of peppers it seemed that my pepper came closest to Dorset Naga in appearance. That’s a super hot chili. It was somewhat comforting to my ego, if not my eyes, nose, throat and gut to learn I might have sweated over a super-hot chili pepper 😉 I then reached out to another co-worker from a different department who I remember mentioning about his picture on a wall of fame at a local hot wings place for finishing very spicy wings. He agreed to come to my office and have a bite of the pepper I had. I cut a piece of the pepper from the tail end for him, and I mouthed a small piece myself. His verdict: It was Trinidad Scorpion hot pepper! Another super hot chili! I was happy to hear that but not convinced, as pictures of Trinidad Scorpion peppers I had seen did not look like the pepper I had. I generally store the packet (that contain seeds I plant) or plant tags (if I buy plants) near the seeded or planted area. Next morning, braving the cold, I looked for either a packet or plant tag. Sure enough, I found a plant tag. The mystery about the identity of pepper plant was solved. It’s a ghost chili pepper (Bhut Jolokia)! Another super-hot chili pepper cultivated originally in the northeastern States of India. 👍

Ghost pepper was the reigning champ from 2007 to 2011 as the spiciest chili pepper before the Trinidad Scorpions and the Carolina Reapers (and more recently Pepper X) took over the title of spiciest chili pepper. The spice level of a pepper is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHU). For example, Jalapeño SHUs range from 2500-8000 SHUs. The super elite “bad boys” of the hot chili pepper world have their SHUs ranging from ~ one million SHUs or over. Ghost pepper is also a member of the “bad boys”. Man, the heat of those higher Scovilles can really be felt by every part of the body that comes in physical contact with the pepper. Talking of heat, the hottest team in Cricket World Cup currently in progress is the Indian cricket team. With 7 wins from 7 matches they are all fired up 🔥and have already made it to the semis, with 2 matches still to play before the knockout stage begins. Like the ghost pepper the Indian cricket team intensity has been overwhelming other teams they have played so far. It’s as if other teams have been too stunned to respond effectively after being hit by a can of ghost pepper spray. If the Indian cricket team can maintain the form and performance enough to win it all, that will help the team exorcise the ghosts of recent World Cups where they have fallen short at the final hurdles. May the team that plays the best win. The heat is on! 🔥