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.