Holy Frakkin' Owww!

[lizardbeth]

I have this little garden in containers, that has some herbs, two tomato plants, an eggplant and a pepper plant. Because they're in containers (and because I am lazy about water and fertilizer) everything grows very small. So I didn't think much about my peppers. The picture on the little stick made them look like red bell peppers. And they look exactly like bell peppers but only about an inch long. I picked one today to try, as well as a Japanese eggplant (itself only about three inches long, when a regular one is about twice that).

That pepper was the hottest freakin' pepper I have ever had the misfortune to touch in my whole life. Understand I've chomped Chinese red peppers and chiles of various kinds and they're hot, but they don't kill me. This? For about ten minutes of pounding back milk and bread, I wasn't so sure. My mouth, my lips, and even my cheeks which I managed to smear a little bit on still feel sunburned two hours later. Just washing the counter afterward somehow got a drop of that stuff under my fingernail and I swear there's a pin under there. Thank God I spat it out instead of swallowing. OWWW.

ETA: I actually read the little stick today. And well, if I weren't an idiot and actually had read it before, I would've known this was no gentle sweet bell pepper. The back says: "Use caution when handling peppers. About twice as hot as the common Habanero." Oh, and it grows hotter if stressed (i.e. lack of water) or when it turns red.

I'm going to offer it to my gardeners and then yank it. It's a MENACE.

Comments

[weissman.livejournal.com]

Was it a habinario (I didn't spell that right) pepper. Those are supposed to be insane. (Chinese peppers are nuts also)
Bob

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

sort of. I found out by actually reading the little stick that came with the baby plant that it's a variety twice as hot as a Habanero. The stick warns about proper handling the peppers because this thing has so much capsasin (the oil that makes peppers hot) in it.

[weissman.livejournal.com]

Yikes -be careful. Imagine the chile you can make with that stuff!!

Bob