I found an interesting website that catalogs the scoville units of various big name sauces, and compares them to peppers, etc... It is kind of useful too, because most websites stop their ratings at "10". For example, I eat sauces that are generally rated as 10's, but looking at the chart, I am a lightweight compared to serious pepperheads. Anybody like serious heat? How high on that scale do you hang out? The hottest sauce I have used is the Original Dave's Insanity, which is about the hottest I care to go unless I am just trying to heat up a dish. http://www.scottrobertsweb.com/scoville-scale/
Yeah that would. That is hotter than what I can eat comfortably. That would be more of a flavorer for me.
I'm working the lower end of the scale. I picked up a pound of Cherry peppers from Krogers, blended with cider vinegar for a Sriracha like sweetness and spice. I've long been a fan of Trappey’s Bull Brand & Tabasco Green Sauce. Both have flavor without causing pain. Recently found the smokeiness of Tabasco Chipotle Sauce to be quite good. Cayenne pepper in it's dried powdered form is a staple of Cajun cooking. The hottest I keep around is a flavored sea salt / ghost chili. Used sparingly.
My favorite, all around, eat it on chips or taco sauce etc.... is Pain is Good Garlic Habanero. Moderate heat, but killer flavor.
I have sampled Dave's Insanity, albeit 20 years ago. Personally, I like heat as a note. When the level of heat prohibits the teasing of anything else, I don't see the point. I've noticed that individual response to the same heat can be interesting. Sometimes, I'll find something not hot at all, but others are floored by it, or vice versa. Not sure why that is. I'll find one dish over the top, while someone else thinks its just a bit spicy. Then the next time I'll find it almost flat, and the same someone will find it pure hell fire. Maybe some types of peppers just hit individuals different.
I like growing peppers, making homeade salsa and various hot sauces. Daves insanity sauce is hot hot hot. I prefer making my own with serrano and or habenero. If i use bottled sauce i reach for chalula or sriacha
When I was younger I used to try lots of hot sauces, the hotter the "better". I don't anymore. I enjoy the flavor of chipotle peppers and have several sauces on hand. I also really like Verde sauces. Anything hotter I will pay for it later.
I'm a Cholula fan. It might not be flame worthy but it has a great flavor. They also have some milder and hotter flavors in their line. Most of the hotter sauces sacrifice flavor for burn so I don't use them.
I'm not into heat just for the sake of heat, but I do like hot foods and sauces; I like heat in food that "sparkles" on the palate and adds to the overall experience. My favorite hot peppers are Datil peppers. They are hot and have wonderful fruited and floral notes to them. A couple of years ago I got some seeds for a variety of pepper and grew some. They produces so many peppers that I actually moved the plants into my workshop for the winter so that I could continue harvesting them. Every time I picked peppers ... They are lovely little lanterns of heat.
"Datils are similar in strength to habaneros but have a sweeter, fruitier flavor." wikipedia Do you use them fresh or made into a sauce? I've had good success running fresh home grown peppers thru the Osterizer, adding apple cider vinegar, and keeping refrigerated. Only have a couple tabasco plants this year, but they are producing well.
I've used them in a multitude of ways. I make a Sweet Bourbon Heat BBQ sauce that includes fresh mango and peaches (outstanding way to finish a thick pork chop and I like it on my smoked pulled pork), I've made peppered vodka with them (awesome), I've made some hot sauce (I used used my abundance of habaneros to make hot sauces, too), I've minced and thrown into dishes including scrambled eggs and even salads, I've made them into jelly - Datil Pepper Jelly with some cream cheese on a Ritz cracker is a phenomenal treat - and when I just have a hankerin', I pop one into my mouth and eat it and thoroughly enjoy flavor. I have to be careful how I use them though because I'm the only one that really likes hot stuff. My wife considers black pepper to be hot, so ... For some reason, I never got around to growing any this year, but I like your idea of slicing them up and putting them in apple cider vinegar. I don't think I've tried to grow tobasco peppers, but I'm glad your plants are producing well.
My father having had a knee replacement and rotator cuff issues can't run his rototiller. Last couple of years I've tilled up a garden for him & mom. We shop several nurseries for our spring planting. I forgot to plant the jalapeno seeds saved from last years crop. Hope to save some seeds from these tabascos for next year. I'll be putting more plants in the ground because these have been a tease - not enough to share with friends & family. Now I'm off to research growing black pepper! Thanks for the hint.