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!
Experiencing Spice 