Eating the World's Hottest Pepper

"When I walked into Tears of Joy, a hot sauce shop downtown, I found coffin-shaped shelves stocked with some of the world’s hottest sauces and got to sample many varieties. Despite hating spicy food, I bought their hottest Ghost Pepper (Naga Bhut Jolokia)—noted at over one million Scoville—and a bottle of pure capsicum extract ("death in a bottle") and filmed the results for a video with a funny ending. I learned that capsaicin is the compound that gives chilies their kick and that the Scoville scale measures capsaicin concentration; after trying the extract I needed the shop's ample milk to wash it down and ended up drinking at least two gallons and taking the whole day to recover. There’s even a bottle labeled “Keep Away From Children.” It was an intense but illuminating experience: now that I’ve survived pure extract, hot sauce doesn’t seem so bad anymore—like being thrown in the deep end to learn to swim, I feel I can handle spicy Indian food. They are located at 618 E 6th Street and are open 10:30am–6pm (M–Sa) and 12pm–4pm (Su)." - Matthew Kepnes