Bring on the heat!

Now things start to get exciting. The sharp bite of the peppers like the thai, the pequin, and the chiltepin is where real pepper heads begin to nosh. These all start around 50,000 and get as hot as 75,000 Scovilles. But let's not crown these peppers champions just yet...

The Scotch Bonnet and the highly renound Habanero both start at around 100,000 Scovilles, but the Habanero can blow through your intestines with the force of 300,000 Scovilles and a really pissed off pepper can push the limits at 350,000 Scovilles.

As far as I'm concerned, the best stuff out there that uses peppers from this category is Dave's Insanity Sauce. We feature a recipe or two that contains some Insanity Sauce... we're talking teaspoons and dashes... one bottle can last even a devout hot head a while. For more information on "the hottest sauce in the Universe", check out Dave's Gourmet.

There's something about this heat level that's very satisfying. It's tough to put my finger on it but it has a lot to do with seeing how hot you can handle a pepper without crying like a little girl. And if you take a bite out of one of these things, every other real guy at the table will ultimately have to try it also, even if you are sweating bullets for the next 15 minutes and your eyes are bloodshot.