350,000 Scoville Units.
A habanero pepper is about 1/3 as hot as a ghost pepper. Now I've seen people eat ghost peppers and it looks beyond painful.
I can handle 1/3 of that hotness can't I?
It's about 1/10 as strong as US Police Grade Pepper Spray. I've seen people get destroyed by that spray but they lived to see another day, didn't they?
I could get through 10% of what they experienced.
So why would I do this? I have a VERY low tolerance for spicy foods. I eat Indian food on a regular basis and they refuse to make their food mild, even when requested to do so!
So if I build up a tolerance for spicy foods, I won't have to worry about continually requesting them to back off the spiciness (and have them ignore me)
So begins the journey...to hell...
I walked into Shop Rite tonight and there in the produce isle is a large basket of habanero peppers. The word 'HOT' with flames around it are drawn on an index card with the price per pound.
So I'm thinking if I'm going to eat this thing, I'm going to go all the way with it.
I take the entire pepper and toss it in my mouth. Chewing proceeds. Chew and shop. Chew and shop.
Here is how I can best describe the experience:
1. It started off slow but within about 30 seconds I was feeling intense pain in my mouth. Just super-sensory pain. Every taste bud, my tongue and the entire inner lining of my mouth was on fire. It was like my mouth was screaming for me to spit this thing out, which I could not do in a produce isle or anywhere else in the store.
2. The saliva build-up was enormous. About a half mouth full and the rest was the pepper itself. So what results is this noxious flaming stew of pepper and saliva which you will eventually have to swallow.
3. Sweating - My forehead, face and even my torso was starting to sweat.
4. Redness - I looked worse than if I just fell asleep on a beach for 3 hours.
5. Bloodshot eyes - If you didn't know I ate that pepper, you would have accused me of smoking several joints.
Now for the grand finale: The pain in my mouth was enormous and the saliva build-up was too much not to proceed with the swallowing, which I knew full well I would pay for.
After swallowing, every single breath that exited my mouth was painful, aiding the hotness already there. Because of this, I attempted to breath through my nose but the experience was so intense, I needed more oxygen through my mouth.
After about another 3 minutes, I started feeling violently sick. I tried everything I could to continue to shop normally but eventually had to leave my cart and bolt out of the store to the nearest garbage can.
At this point, I was dripping with sweat and wanted nothing more than to vomit, which I did...in full view of all the shoppers. And I did it...on my knees. I could not stand.
It was embarrassing to say the least. This vomiting went on for about 5 minutes. Not a SINGLE person asked if I was okay which was interesting to document with regard to human nature. Perhaps they thought I was a drug addict. The vomiting was loud and violent.
When finished, all I could do was remain on my knees on the concrete to gather myself. I cleaned up everything to remove all traces of this debacle and started feeling better immediately.
Needless to say, I will never do this again and my tolerance for spicy foods apparently will never be achieved.
I feel for those who have eaten ghost peppers and Carolina Reapers (1 million and 1.5 million Scoville units respectively). I simply can't even conceptualize the intensity of consuming such a thing.
The best way I can describe the experience is that your body completely rejects the pepper in virtually every area it touches or travels and will do what is necessary to completely rid itself of it.
Anyhow, I'd advise you not to eat a whole habanero pepper in one shot and if you have and have done better than I did, congrats.
(For your viewing pleasure, if you do not want to read the above, this is pretty much what happened in a nutshell:
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