This Danish boys choir attempts to plow through "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful" after each downing a whole (ghost?) pepper. A sadistic YouTuber and "chilienthusiast" by the name of Chili Klaus gave each one of the members of the Herning Boys Choir a super-hot pepper to eat before trying to sing the Christmas carol over again.
One of the camera operators for the shoot, redditor YetACleverUsername reports:
[Chili Klaus] had a selection of different peppers for the participants, from which the kids could choose themselves. This is also why it varies greatly in how affected they happen to be. I don't know how spicy the lower end was, but the strongest chilis he brought, I believe, were these https://www.pepperscale.com/bhut-jolokia-chocolate/. However these were mainly meant as an option for the older guys, unless they were really insistent.
Then...
You see how they storm off in the end? There was milk prepared in the chamber off to the side. How quickly they recovered also varied a bit. I believe one or two of them puked, and a few definitely were dry-heaving. But honestly, they handled it far better than I was expecting.
There were a select few who needed a longer break, but in general they were quickly back to being excited/getting pictures taken with Chili Klaus. He also brought a big crate filled with chilis which they were allowed to take some from. So I imagine their friends and family suffered quite a bit over the next couple of days as well.
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The Ice Cream Store in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware sells ice cream flavored with ghost peppers, which are loaded with so much capsaicin that they make jalapeños seem like strawberries. One person who sampled the ice cream "vomited on the spot" and another took "a few licks and couldn’t stop coughing for a good 10 minutes," reports the Washington Post.
The store's website describes the ice cream this way: "Scorpion Sting ice cream with Mad Dog 357, Heartbreaking Dawns 1841, and Da' Bomb Ghost Pepper sauces added. Our good friends from the Two Fat Guys restaurant in Hockessin have also added in some fresh Ghost pepper mash. You WILL NOT be able to taste or buy this ice cream without first signing a waiver!" Read the rest
In the curiously compelling Hot Pepper Gaming video series, hosts eat hot peppers and then review video games. Here, Erin Schmalfeld enjoys a habanero pepper before telling us about Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. Read the rest
What is it about eating Szechuan peppers that causes the lasting tingling or numbness in your mouth and lips after the burn has subsided? Sure, Capsaicin produces the burning sensation that delights hot sauce connoisseurs but there's another process at play when it comes to Szechuan peppers.
New research shows that a molecule in the Szechuan pepper, Hydroxy-alpha-sanshool, excites a certain type of tactile sensor in our skin in a way that feels like the sensors have been vibrated very quickly. University College London researchers explored this strange phenomena by brushing volunteers' lips with both ground Szechuan peppers and later a vibrating metal tool to match the level of numbness caused by the pepper. By identifying the frequency of the numbing sensation, the scientists determined that the high-sensitivity Meissner receptors in the skin were the ones fired up by the Szechuan peppers.
"Why Szechuan Peppers Make Your Lips Go Numb" (Smithsonian) Read the rest
