Fun thread, but: how hot is TOO hot for you all? I’m down with some habenero, but I don’t think I’d like a Carolina reaper based sauce. Probably anything where a 1/4 tsp would knock out my taste buds for 15 minutes is over the line for me.

twelvepoint wrote: Mon Jul 28, 2025 10:10 am Fun thread, but: how hot is TOO hot for you all? I’m down with some habenero, but I don’t think I’d like a Carolina reaper based sauce. Probably anything where a 1/4 tsp would knock out my taste buds for 15 minutes is over the line for me.

Obviously, everyone has a different tolerance level, but it also depends very much on quantity of sauce used and what the sauce is being consumed with. I can handle a ghost pepper or Carolina reaper sauce if in the right quantity and the right food combination. But eating 10 raw jalapeños by themselves would cause me a substantial amount of pain. Also, just because the sauce has ghost pepper or Carolina reaper doesn't mean it's going to be intolerably hot. The recipes I posted earlier in this thread a few years ago usually balanced out the superhot peppers with a healthy dose of bell pepper or tomato.

Some heat is good, sure, but my goal isn't to burn off my mouth or asshole. It's to try to use the inherent flavor of the pepper to make something tasty.

Anyway, I would classify my heat tolerance level as 'intermediate'.