Ghost Pepper, Jolokia – The Friendly Chile

With this blog posting I start a short series on the different peppers used in Flaming Garden’s products.  As you can see, I am starting with the hottest, and sometimes scariest, the Jolokia or Ghost Pepper.  As usual, I will attempt to make this an informative and fun read for you

After doing some research, I found that the name Ghost is not really accurate.  It is possible that the name Ghost was coined because of the extreme heat and the thought that eating the Jolokia might cause one to “give up the ghost.”  In actuality, this pepper goes by several names in its country(ies) of origin.  Let’s take a quick look at the origin and names.

Origin:

To begin, Jolokia simply means Capsicum Pepper in Assamese, one of the many Indian dialects.  Capsicum is the big person’s word meaning a pepper that has Capsaicin, the chemical that gives you the heat reaction.  (See my Capsaicin blog post)  This chile goes by different names depending on which region/area of India or which country it is grown and harvested.  The Jolokia is grown in the Nagaland and Assam regions of India as well as near Manipur.  It is also grown in Sri Lanka, Nepal, and parts of Bangladesh.

Names:

As for its name, if you harvest the Jolokia north of the Brahmaputra River in India you will call it the Bhot Jolokia to signify that the pepper is of Bhotiya origin or from the Bhutan Region.  However, if you harvest the pepper south of this same river, you will call the pepper Naga Jolokia after the hills of Nagaland.  When you visit India you may also hear this pepper called the Saga Jolokia or India’s Mystery Chile.  The people in Tezpur, Assam, India call the pepper after their city, Tezpur Jolokia.  Sri Lanka calls the Jolokia Pepper Nai Mirris meaning cobra chile, in Bangladesh they call it Naga Morich, and in Nepal it’s called Jogi Khursani.  Finally, in Manipur, India, they call the Jolokia, Umorok which translates to tree chile.  (I leave pronunciation of these location names and names for the Jolokia to the experts and am grateful that I only have to spell them.)

Here is some other information I found about the Jolokia Pepper.

Heat:

As most people are aware, the Jolokia was found to be the hottest chile pepper known.  This was discovered in 2004, according to my research.  The SHU’s (Scoville Heat Units, see my blog on the Scoville Scale) for the Jolokia measured over 1,000,000 at that time, pushing the Red Savina Habanero out of the top spot.  One thing I did not expect to find in my research is that the SHU’s for a chile pepper can vary from year to year depending on the climate, humidity, and soil conditions. 

Uses:

This extremely hot pepper has some interesting current uses and potential uses.  For instance, a research laboratory in India is considering the use of the Jolokia in aerosol sprays for women as a defensive device, as well as in hand grenades to flush terrorists out of hiding or to disperse mobs.  One interesting current use of the Jolokia is to deter elephants.  In northeastern India, the pepper is rubbed on fences or used in smoke bombs to keep elephants at a safe distance from communities.

Flaming Garden:

Currently at Flaming Garden, we use the Jolokia in two of our jellies, the Orange Bell Jolokia and the Strawberry Jolokia flavors.  I have personally started calling this pepper the friendly pepper and I’ll tell you why.  The Jolokia’s heat is manifested in the back of the mouth after it has allowed you to taste it across your tongue.  Most chiles that we are familiar with give the heat across the tongue, where we taste.  This does not give us the same opportunity to taste the pepper because we are getting a pain/burn message from the nerve endings in our tongue at the same time our taste buds are getting their messages.  It is very friendly, I think, of the Jolokia to allow us to taste it before it burns us.

Recipes:

We love the Jolokia’s smoky flavor and think that it pairs well with the savory Orange Bell and the fruity Strawberry.  As you know, we like the Strawberry Jolokia over ice cream.  Any flavor you would pair with Strawberry works from vanilla and chocolate to coffee or cookies-n-cream.   As for the Orange Bell Jolokia Jelly, we pair it with an Asian stir fry.  I don’t have a recipe for this because my choice of vegetables, protein and sauce changes each time I put one together.  The savory flavor of the Orange Bell Pepper marries well with the veggies in your stir fry while the Jolokias heat spices up your sauce.  We suggest using Soy or another savory sauce with the jelly to cut the sweetness, unless you are making a sweet stir fry. 

Conclusion:

Well, that’s all I have on the Jolokia Pepper.  I hope you enjoyed the post and learned something new.  If you already knew all this, I hope you enjoyed it anyway.  If you have any questions please let me know and always feel free to leave a comment.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga_Bhut_Jolokia

http://ushotstuff.com/worldshottestchile.htm

Future Events:

http://www.denvercountyfair.org/  - - August 10-12, 2012, National Western Complex

We are confirmed to be at the Denver County Fair this year and hope to see all our fans there and many, many new faces.  As of now I know that we will be inside one of the pavilions, although I don’t know which one.  I will definitely post giving the location of our booth. 

Please feel free to make comments and send us feedback on our products.  Also, make sure to visit our website, www.flaminggarden.com to get more information on our products, ordering, shipping, and recipes.

Chile Pepper Summer

Well, it’s been such a busy couple of weeks that I’ve been remiss in blogging.  I heartily apologize to our followers for this.

During our ‘Chile Pepper Summer’ here at Flaming Garden, we have been diligently working to build up our business so that we can meet our 2012 goal of getting our jellies on market shelves by years end.  Our presence at The Colorado Experience was valuable in that Becky and Dan, our owners, met so many experienced and knowledgeable people.  They were both very excited to make these potentially valuable contacts. 

One of the fun things you should know about our owner and creative genius, Becky, is that she is a Spicy Wench (self-titled).  At The Colorado Experience, Becky met up with Yvonne Larson who does Fun & Fancy Face Painting.  Yvonne created a wonderful piece of art for Becky as seen here.

Yvonne is very talented and alas does not have a website for me to give you.  She is on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/yvonne.larson.79 and can be seen at the Lafayette Festival of the Faeries.  Here is a picture I found of Yvonne at that festival, all dressed up and leading a dance.  Her phone is (303)819-4697 if you would like to contact her about her face painting talents.

Now regarding our 2012 goal, I have one very exciting piece of news.  Becky has signed a contract with a commissary kitchen that is closer to their location in Aurora.  This means no more driving 30 minutes or more across Denver to cook.  When Becky met with the owner she said that the smells were mouthwatering.  We will soon be using Napoli Tom’s Pasta Company.  Check them out at http://www.napolitoms.com/.  Napoli Tom’s does a Take ‘N Bake Italian pasta business and already has several companies using his kitchens for cooking. 

We couldn't be happier with this new business development, especially since the Denver County Fair is rapidly approaching next month.  We need to boost our inventory and can’t wait to use our new facility. 

Speaking of the County Fair, we hope to see as many of you there as possible.  We also hope that you are telling all your friends about us and sharing your jelly with everyone at your bar-b-ques and picnics.  Remember that our jellies are versatile.  Be creative with them.  Think of what you would do with the flavors in the jelly you chose then build a recipe around it. 

Recipe Idea

Get some juicy lamb chops and a jar of Flaming Garden Pomagranate Jalapeno Jelly.  Make a marinade by placing 2-3 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1-2 tbsp good olive oil, 2 tbsp jelly, 2 tsp rosemary, salt and pepper in a small saucepan over low heat to liquefy the jelly.  Pour over the lamb chops and set in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes before cooking.  Reserve the liquid.  Cook the chops using your favorite method.  While the chops are cooking add some stock or water to the marinade liquid, ½ cup or so, and put over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Once it boils reduce to heat to medium low or low and simmer while the chops cook.  This will make a nice sauce to drizzle over the chops.

I hope you enjoy this recipe.  The amounts given are based on 4 -6 chops.  Adjust the amounts as needed depending on how many you are cooking up.

We hope you enjoy this recipe and would love to hear from you if you have created one of your own.

Feedback

Even though we have been selling primarily at our Saturday Farmers Market locations lately, we have had quite a bit of positive feedback and experiences that I would like to share.

I had several people return to our booth at the Lone Tree Farmers Market to purchase more jelly.  Becky had a gentleman come to Southlands Mall booth because his wife woke him up and said, “It’s Saturday, go buy more jelly!”

I also had a couple of fine gentlemen at the Lone Tree booth This last Saturday discussing chiles.  They grow many different chile plants on their property and use them for cooking.  While we talked, one of the gentlemen enjoyed just about all of the Strawberry Jolokia jelly I had in my sample bowl.  This didn’t bother me, it was almost time to pack up and it would have gone to waste.  He took a jar home, along with other flavors.  What amazed me was the quantity of jelly he took on his cracker with every taste.  This man was clearly very used to the BIG heat provided by the Jolokia Pepper.  Enjoy gentlemen, and I hope to see you back at the booth very soon. 

Don’t forget to offer comments/feedback on our blogs and products.  We’d love to hear from her.

Future Blogs

I will be starting a series of blogs on the different peppers we use here at Flaming Garden for our jellies.  As always, we are open to answering your questions and blogging on topics that you would like to see here.  This blog is for you, our customers and friends.