So here is what happened when I just thawed the half batch that went into the freezer on curry making day:

IT WAS MISERABLY HOT!

As in, I’m worried about tomorrow’s constitutional being painful and am already planning to toss the remaining half batch which makes me very sad because a lot of work goes into it.

I can feel the heat in my stomach right now.

And I’m not a fan of the citrusy flavor from the habanero compared to the smoky flavor from the arbol I typically use.

Oh well, pepper lesson learned. Habanero and I are not a good match.

Weird that it permeates the curry portion while frozen, or at most over a day or two while thawing in my fridge.

The half batch I ate all week following curry making day, I also left the pepper in and it didn’t get very hot ever, although it was warmer by the end of the week. I didn’t cut the two peppers, but I did slit the sides with a sharp paring knife so some warm would ooze out without seeds getting out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be careful about taking advice from someone calling a habanero a chile🤔

Listen to the pp

Are you being pedantic?

Habanero is a chili pepper.

If they were being pedantic then they were wrong. When referring to peppers it's spelled chile. The american dish sometimes made with beans and chain restaurant is spelled chili.

Anonymous wrote:I would be careful about taking advice from someone calling a habanero a chile🤔

Listen to the pp

Are you being pedantic?

Habanero is a chili pepper.

I’ve just had my first serving and am not well pleased. Very little heat released so I’ve reached in and cut a vent into each of the habanero CHILI peppers to see if that might help put some heat in my curry while it simmers a little more.

I shouldn’t have messed with a good thing, I really love the flavor profile of the arbol and cayenne.

I would be careful about taking advice from someone calling a habanero a chile🤔

Listen to the pp

Put the habanero in whole and take it out at the end. Do not chop it without gloves. The flavor profile will be different from arbol and cayenne. Habs have a fruity, citrusy heat.

The more you chop the chili the hotter it will be. (more exposure to the spicy chemical) I'd maybe halve it and use more than one, fish them out later.

If you want to look at scoville comparison, you are currently adding 180,000-400,000. Habaneros are 150,000-325,000 each. So I'd probably do 2 and it'll end up in the spicy range.

Just let the habanero simmer whole in the curry and then take it out. Do not chop it up.

I’m making the curry I make about every month - a big batch which I eat for a week and have another week’s worth to freeze for later.

Usually I use 6-8 dried arbol chilis and a tablespoon of cayenne - I like the curry nice and hot.

The other day while shopping I grabbed a bag of fresh habaneros on impulse thinking I would use them instead.

From what I’ve read on the Scoville units, just one habanero is about equivalent to the half dozen or more arbol chilis. I’m not sure how much fresh v dried makes a difference in heat expression?

At this point I’m thinking I just use one large habanero and see how things taste as it’s simmering - I can always add cayenne.

But, do I put the habanero in while and just let it simmer in the curry or do I chop it? (I would usually use the dried arbol whole, and typically don’t eat them except maybe a tiny piece here or there.)

I’ve seen recipes online both ways and also advice that I must wear gloves while chopping a habanero. So I’m beginning to wonder if this was a bad idea lol.

Pepper lovers, please help! I DO love hot - I’m happy for my nose to be running and eyes a bit watery - my gut loves heat and I have had no issues from it in the past. But this is the hottest type of pepper I’ve ever cooked with.

It’s a large curry - 10-12 servings in total.