2008
Habanero crop report
This year has
had some challenges in procuring Habanero peppers! The Mexican peppers
we strongly prefer are all under quarantine and unavailable at this time.
To start this year’s Habanero season, we scrambled and found that the best
available ones were being grown in Florida, so we shipped them in. On Thursday
July 31st we tested out the first Double and Triple Habanero pizzas of
the season, with about 20 customers in attendance.
The consensus
was clear: the flavor was good, but they simply were not as hot as
we require. However, there was a light at the end of the tunnel:
the Triple Habanero pizza was hot enough to recommend unreservedly as the
Double Habanero pizza. The next day we did a 2nd cut (comparison)
and confirmed that by using 50% more peppers than the usual recipe, the
requisite heat is present.
For the first
week, we used those peppers, and sold more than 10 Habanero Pizzas per
day! We’ll be using Florida Habaneros until we can get our hands
on something hotter, and along the way we’ll be testing the batches to
be sure that there is enough heat, and that we can still guarantee your
safe return to normalcy within a reasonable amount of time after eating
the pizza.
Remember, the
overview of the Double Habanero pizza is: It’s like a roller coaster ride
that, part way through, you’re not sure you’re going to make it and in
the end your glad you did the ride.
The overview for
the Triple Habanero is to get to where the burn is sustained at a level
that approaches closing the throat involuntarily, but where you can still
tell the difference between the olives and the chicken.
Atop original dough and our special red sauce, this flaming pizza has cornmeal,
mozzarella, chicken, olives, and just the right amount of habaneros. The
cornmeal soaks up the flavors from the chicken, olives, and habaneros and
carries the rich flavors throughout the pie.
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| Jason
walked into the house and grabbed a slice of pizza from the open box. Before
taking a bite, he scoffed at KC who was sitting on the couch saying "WOW!"
and fanning his mouth between bites of pie. I said to Jason, "That's the
double habanero, you know?" No comment and then a large bite. KC says,
"You're gonna know in a few seconds." Suddenly Jason says, "What the hell?"
"I
told you it's the double habanero!"
Jason
finishes the slice and sits down with a funny look on his face. A few minutes
later he says, "Why do you eat that? That is the hottest thing I have eaten
in my life!" Upon hearing this I threw my fist up in the air and said,
"YES! Howard would be proud!" To which KC laughed. Jason proceeds to bitch
me out for a few minutes. He was SO mad that I would let him eat it.
After
the bitching subsides, Jason waits a few more minutes and I see him reach
into the box for a second slice. "WHOA, this one is all you, buddy," I
say. Jason responds with, "I think I am eating it just for the whole experience
of it. I have never had anything that hot!" |
| The
pizza we ate on that fateful night was VERY hot. It seemed hotter to me
than the pizzas we had on last Wednesday. I thought that the kitchen had
given me 'special' treatment since I am an employee, but Mo said she weighed
it out correctly. My friend KC said it was noticeably hotter than last
year, as well. He said, "Last year I ate seven slices, no problem, this
year I can barely get through 2." |
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