With new superhot chiles emerging in what seems like every other month, the coveted title of “Hottest Chile” is up for grabs once again. But who is the best judge of a superhot, anyway? Chemical engineer and capsaicin expert Marlin Bensinger doesn’t think that the Guinness World Records people are qualified to make the call. Dave DeWitt hears him out …
Excerpt: Australia’s Barbecue Heritage
Rick Browne, Ph.B takes a look at Australia’s love affair with barbecue in “Baang-gaa to Barbies: Australia’s Barbecue Heritage,” excerpted from the May/June issue of Burn! Magazine. Let me smash a common misconception about Australian barbecue: Down Under, they cook prawns —no one here “slips another shrimp on the Barbie.” In fact, cooking shrimp, er, prawns on a barbecue was …
Digging the Disc-It
To paraphrase Michael Corleone, “If history has taught us one thing, it’s that you can cook on anything.” Genghis Khan and his crew grilled on their shields over campfires, thus giving us Mongolian barbecue. People who crave the tang of gas fumes even use their car engines to cook food in foil. In northern Mexico, there’s cooking discada. That’s where …
Improve Your “Foodprint”: Farming and Climate Change
In an article posted on The Atlantic’s website last week, Gary Paul Nabhan, co-author of Chasing Chiles: Hot Spots Along the Pepper Trail, addressed the relationship between farming in the Southwest and climate change—both food production and food security have been cast into question with the growing scarcity of water and unpredictable growing seasons and weather patterns, such as drought. …
Heat Sources: Five of Our Favorite Fiery Food Blogs
Blogging is a great tool for sharing your expertise and enthusiasm with the world. If you are a tool, though, it’s the perfect chance to spread your ignorance. Moreover, finding good spicy food blogs can be time consuming. To save you some time and trouble, we thought we’d share some of our favorite non-tool blogs with you: eatmoreheat.com This site …
Doctor Feel Good (at least, until the heart attack)
From celebrity gossip to midget blowfish porn, you can find anything on the Internet, including vindication. For years, I’ve practiced a strict health regimen of triple cheeseburgers, pizza, and boxed wine. I mean, the better something tastes the healthier it is, am I right? All those doctors with their fancy eight-year college degrees think they know better, but I’ve had …
Sex, Lies, and Capsicum: Debunking Pepper Gardening Myths
This is the second installment of Cap Farmer’s chile gardening wisdom. We hear he learned everything he knows from Dave DeWitt! In the April issue of Burn! Magazine, we introduced Cap, a former marijuana grower who has switched to chiles to prevent his house and property from being seized by the Feds. For more of the real truth about chile …
