I am becoming one of the people I used to think were crazy, loco, you know, flip-city. Those who took great delight in eating hot peppers. I used to think it was pure insanity.
I slowly have been adding more and more hot pepper spice in everything I cook beginning with my patented Firedog Chili. Last October I made the best batch ever using 11 different kinds of peppers, 3 different kinds of groud meat (bison, beef, & venison), and a bunch of different kinds of beans including light & dark kidneys, black beans, pinto beans, & red beans. That's all of the recipe that gets shared. Cause we're here to talk peppers.
Of those 11 different peppers only a red, green, yellow, and orange bell pepper were not hot. The rest ranged from jalapenos and serranos to poblanos, Anaheim, and cherry peppers. Plus just one scotch bonnet (almost a habanero). Notice that didn't add up to 11 but again, I'm not divulging my secrets here.
Right after I made that batch of chili I was diagnosed with diabetic neuropathy. Went on a diet, lost 35 lbs. exercised more religiously and my diabetes is well under control with no drugs. But the neuropathy in my feet remains. Seems the extra sugar in your blood eats away the tiny nerve endings in your extremeties like it was battery acid. That's apparently what happened in my feet.
So I started to research what I could do to try and get some of the feeling in my feet back. Aside from various vitamins that seem to help, Capsaicin is named. Capsaicin is the active ingredient in hot peppers that make them, well, hot. And so, I began my quest to increase my tolerance for hot peppers in an attempt to help with my neuropathy.
I started putting Tabasco (cayenne) sauce on my eggs. Added jalapenos and serranos to meatloaf. Slowly but surely my tolerance to hot peppers has risen.
So today I decided to eat a raw jalapeno by itself. Some people with gardens who work with me have been bringing in fresh produce to give away so I snagged one. And WOW, I had no problem except where the capsaicin hit my lips. Tongue OK. Lips hot. Damn, I am starting to really like this stuff.
I know there's a lot of people who can't handle hot peppers. I used to be one of them. Hell, I used to work with a woman who I called a fucking lunatic when she offered me a pepperocini back in '78. But, much like the reborn Christian, I am here to confess the error of my ways and spread the gospel of hot pepper therapy!
If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, I say unto you, a hot pepper a day can make medical science go the way of the dinosaur! Amen.
I slowly have been adding more and more hot pepper spice in everything I cook beginning with my patented Firedog Chili. Last October I made the best batch ever using 11 different kinds of peppers, 3 different kinds of groud meat (bison, beef, & venison), and a bunch of different kinds of beans including light & dark kidneys, black beans, pinto beans, & red beans. That's all of the recipe that gets shared. Cause we're here to talk peppers.
Of those 11 different peppers only a red, green, yellow, and orange bell pepper were not hot. The rest ranged from jalapenos and serranos to poblanos, Anaheim, and cherry peppers. Plus just one scotch bonnet (almost a habanero). Notice that didn't add up to 11 but again, I'm not divulging my secrets here.
Right after I made that batch of chili I was diagnosed with diabetic neuropathy. Went on a diet, lost 35 lbs. exercised more religiously and my diabetes is well under control with no drugs. But the neuropathy in my feet remains. Seems the extra sugar in your blood eats away the tiny nerve endings in your extremeties like it was battery acid. That's apparently what happened in my feet.
So I started to research what I could do to try and get some of the feeling in my feet back. Aside from various vitamins that seem to help, Capsaicin is named. Capsaicin is the active ingredient in hot peppers that make them, well, hot. And so, I began my quest to increase my tolerance for hot peppers in an attempt to help with my neuropathy.
I started putting Tabasco (cayenne) sauce on my eggs. Added jalapenos and serranos to meatloaf. Slowly but surely my tolerance to hot peppers has risen.
So today I decided to eat a raw jalapeno by itself. Some people with gardens who work with me have been bringing in fresh produce to give away so I snagged one. And WOW, I had no problem except where the capsaicin hit my lips. Tongue OK. Lips hot. Damn, I am starting to really like this stuff.
I know there's a lot of people who can't handle hot peppers. I used to be one of them. Hell, I used to work with a woman who I called a fucking lunatic when she offered me a pepperocini back in '78. But, much like the reborn Christian, I am here to confess the error of my ways and spread the gospel of hot pepper therapy!
If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, I say unto you, a hot pepper a day can make medical science go the way of the dinosaur! Amen.
