Ghost Pepper Salsa - Pain Train Makes it Right

Want something really spicy? Who ya gonna call?

Ghost pepper is something to fear—but not because there’s anything mystical or spooky about it. Ghost pepper demands respect because of its immense heat. Said to be 400 times hotter than Tabasco, ghost pepper (or Bhut Jolokia) actually comes with a warning for its blistering heat. On the Scoville Scale, which ranks peppers according to their relative spiciness, habanero ranks well below ghost pepper: about 100,000 versus 1,000,000 heat units. Jalapeño, by comparison, barely rates 5,000 heat units. Should you feel tempted to use ghost pepper in your kitchen, keep in mind it packs 10 times the heat of habañero!

Pain Train Salsa maker Shane Nobles gets his fresh ghost peppers from master gardener Lane McCarty in Tomball, who grows them exclusively for Pain Train Salsa. Nobles uses one or two whole fresh ghost peppers for each pint of his fiery Nuclear Lighting salsa, depending on the size of the peppers. Nobles advises to always use gloves when dealing with fiery hot peppers: “One time I picked ghost peppers without using gloves and at the end of the day I wiped my fingers through my hair: it left four streaks of red fire across my forehead.”

I found Pain Train Salsa at the Westchase Farmers Market but check for current info: paintrainsalsa.com