This isn't technically a sauce, it's actually a pickle, but I'm over these pettifogging differences by now.

Produced by a man in the Lake District whose name is not Mr Vikki but is something totally different. King Naga is a preserve consisting mainly of mashed up naga jolokia peppers with a hint of garlic and lemon juice in oil. It's very, very hot. I have not been able to find an actual Scoville rating for it but I'm going to guesstimate it's about 400,000 Scovilles. This makes it about 61.538462% the heat of Dave's Ghost Pepper Sauce but 112.0448% the heat of Mad Dog .357.

It's also notable in that it's the hottest thing I've ever encountered that isn't bolstered with the use of pure capsaicin or nodihydrocapsaici crystals. If it were not so oily I'm sure that King Naga would be way hotter, as capsaicin is soluble in oil. However, sifting through one notes that there's very little skin (of the chilli, not the people who touch it) and lots of seeds and pods and the white, fleshy bit from up near the stalk of the pepper. It should be noted that this last area is where the capsaicin glands are and if you cut up a pepper and lick it, this bit is always significantly hotter than any of the other bits.

The other advantage of it being so oily is that if you put lots of it into something to make it really spicy, your rectum won't feel like the back end of the Batmobile the next morning.

Although extremely hot, the heat is not the first thing one notices so much as the fruitiness. The heat comes in as just an afterthought. Because of this, I find it's actually best used in curries, and especially chicken ones.

One final word of warning though - don't get it in your eyes. That's painful. VERY painful.


(IRON NODER 2011, 13/30)

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