Looking Back – Some Final Thoughts

Attempting to capture how I feel about each sauce through facial expressions

I cannot believe a month has already gone by! Looking back on my project, I’m feeling a mix of emotions – pride (for challenging myself and my skills), exhaustion (coming from my total overextension of my time and abilities in my extracurricular commitments), and curiosity (I’ve got a strong desire to learn more and continue testing my spice limits). If given the opportunity to do my project over again, I would have wanted to do more – more cooking, more posting, more research – it just simply felt like there weren’t enough hours in the day (but what else is new). Despite that, I am still as excited about this project as I was when the ideas first started storming last spring, and I’m leaving the month of January feeling excited about a chili-laden future.

I have two main takeaways from my independent study this month:

1. I like spicy foods. I’m certainly not going to be eating whole habaneros just for kicks any time soon, but I’ve really learned to enjoy the burn. Things are still as spicy as ever, but the more I expose myself to chili, the more I am able to taste the other flavors in the dish. What was once a total meal-ruiner (hundreds of “I can’t eat this!”) is now a fun and welcome challenge. Feeling the burn is a fun way to control my body – I am in control, I know what I’m getting myself into, and I feel present. I like the glisten, I like to sit with it afterwards with the tingle on my tongue. My preferred level of spice is still around the second sauce (cayenne, 30,000 SHU), but I’m willing to test those limits because I can now confirm that my tongue will in fact, not fall off. I am now the proud owner of a fabulous hot sauce collection that I hope will continue to grow throughout my life.
2. I should not be my own boss in the foreseeable future. For a girl that once considered herself a master of time management, this month often felt like it was slipping away from me. Not having imposing deadlines set by authority figures or the threat of exams has really made it difficult to prioritize my independent study project. It was certainly good practice, and is a skill I will continue to work on!

In all seriousness, this project has been a blast. I’m leaving January feeling proud of myself, the work that I have accomplished, and my excitement towards the future. I have learned a lot about how our body experiences spice, I have thought deeply about why spice persists and the power it holds over humans and our emotions, and I have instilled a love of chili within myself. All in all, I’d consider that a resounding success.

Dear reader, thank you for sticking with me! I appreciate your emails, texts, and comments as I went through this adventure. Hope to share some spicy food with you soon!

Round Up: Week 3

The project has come to an end! I’m happy to report that it has been such a blast. Week 3 was certainly the spiciest out of anything I’ve experienced this month (and quite possibly ever), but I was still enjoying it for the most part – progress!

The Sauce: Tears of Joy August in Austin, a red habanero sauce at 350,000 SHU. Fun fact – the red habanero was the world record holder for hottest pepper from 1996-2007! If only this experiment was happening 10 years ago, I’d be a total bad ass. At this point, the pepper is old news, with the world record holder Carolina Reaper at 1.5 million SHU.

Why I like it: This sauce feels like what I imagined this whole month to feel like (and thankfully, it all didn’t) – simply ouch. I can’t really get any flavor, just burn. An immediate, upon-contact, not messing around kind of burn that stings and stays for a while.

How I feel: Sweaty. Very sweaty. It’s happening! Runny nose too, total sinus clearing. The pain seems very direct to my tongue and less of a whole mouth burning sensation. The burning is immediately intense and still feels tingly minutes after I’m done eating.

Ideal use: Don’t? Is that an option? This is a great sauce for people who don’t want taste, just want burn. It could probably be great on a burrito (but what isn’t?) with some dairy, grains, and so on to dampen the immediate spice a bit. 

Best food I’ve eaten it on: this was very tasty on pizza – like I’ve figured out with all the sauces I’ve been eating, spice does wonders to cut down the feeling of indulgent richness found in my favorite cheese-saturated foods. Tied with pizza is the sauce dabbed a piece of dark chocolate, yum-spicy-sweet-yum.

Least favorite food I’ve eaten it on: Because this sauce really is all burn, no taste to me, nothing super gross to report back.

Three weeks later, I’m certainly a changed eater/individual. I will go into much more detail in my upcoming wrap up post, but I’ve found myself itching for spice. I’m still not able to “tolerate” the hottest of the hot, but I do enjoy adding a kick into my otherwise bland and dairy-licious diet. I found myself walking all over the dining hall today in search of the hot sauce. I added Sriracha to my ketchup the other day, on purpose. I’m surprising myself, and that is certainly a good thing in my book. Thanks for sticking with me the whole way through!