Drying chili peppers for use in food preparation or in crafts is a relatively easy process in your food dehydrator.  You will want to wear gloves when handling the peppers so that the capsaicin oil from the peppers doesn’t burn or irritate your skin. You should place your food dehydrator in a well-ventilated area with good air circulation because during the drying process the odor can irritate your eyes and nose. (use room fans if need be or use your dehydrator outside or in the garage). Once your peppers have been dried, they will be ready for you to use … Continue Reading

I don’t know about you but sometimes when cooking there will be a reference to chili powder and chile powder. Questions come up often on what is the difference between these two chilis.  So here is a bit of reference to the difference between the chili’s and the chile’s.

In most cookbooks and recipes, plenty of references are made for using chili powder.  This is a traditional spice that can be found in your spice section produced many major manufacturers.  It consists of a blend of various chili peppers, cumin, oregano, salt and dehydrated garlic.  It isn’t a true chili powder … Continue Reading

The Habanero Chili Pepper is often thought of as a hot and spicy vegetable but it’s actually a hot and spicy fruit that packs a lot of heat. Habanero Chili Peppers are rated on the Scoville Scale (heat scale) at 100,000 to 350,000 so the heat varies via the species of Habanero you are growing and cooking with. Typically this fruit is a beautiful shade of green when unripe and as it ripens, it will turn a beautiful shade of red and some varieties products brown, orange, white and pink varieties.

Habanero’s are a popular pepper for home gardeners to grow … Continue Reading

We love our peppers but sometimes even the best of us get that burning sensation after eating a super hot pepper dish or whole pepper. Our mouth and throat is on fire! Our face gets red and we start to sweat!!  There may be help for you! Here are a few remedies that can help cool down that afterburn going on inside.

* Drink Milk: If the heat is too much for you to stand try drinking a full glass of cow’s milk. (whole milk works best).

* Eat Ice Cream or Yogurt: Eating ice cream or yogurt after eating peppers may … Continue Reading

Using dry rubs is a popular alternative to barbeque sauces and we carry several great ones here as well.  Here are a few tips on how to use them on your meat, fish and poultry dishes.

Before you begin to use the dry rub it is best to wash your meat under cool running water and pat it dry with a paper towel. Always inspect your meat for any defects or foul odors, if you detect them, discard and use a different piece of meat.

When you use a dry rub on meat or … Continue Reading

The chili pepper is one of the most, if not the most, popular type of pepper used in Thai cooking. There is a large variety of chili peppers used in Thai cooking and each variety is used for a different reason or in a particular dish. The most popular of these peppers is the “prig kee nu” (Thai Chili Pepper) which is the shortest of the chili peppers (about 1″ in length) and comes in red and green colors. It is considered to be one of the hottest chili peppers used in Thai cooking.

When it comes to using the “prig … Continue Reading

Here is some information you may need now that you have grabbed a few of our great marinades.  Chicken is a great meat to use a marinade on as it absorbs the marinade quickly and it infuses a lot of great flavor too.  It is perfect to serve when throwing those backyard BBQ’s and parties.

To start, shake up or mix up your marinade a few minutes before you are ready to begin. Pour your marinade into a plastic or glass container that is especially made for marinating meats or use a zipper closure bag. Add your chicken pieces and make … Continue Reading

Growing Jalapeno Peppers in a backyard garden is a relatively easy process that can be accomplished in a variety of American climates. You will find that most Jalapeno Peppers are grown in the South West of North America but even those who live in the Northern areas can grow them in a backyard garden.  These peppers grow okay in container gardens as well.

You can start off by germinating your own plants by purchasing seeds…however, you always want to make sure that you purchase fresh seeds (check for expiration dates) and germinate your seeds in a good healthy soil. Each seed … Continue Reading

The Scoville scale is a measurement of the spicy heat (or piquance) of a chili pepper. It is named after its creator, American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville. His method, devised in 1912, is known as the Scoville Organoleptic Test. The number of Scoville heat units (SHU) in a particular pepper indicates the amount of capsaicin present. What is Capsaicin? It is a chemical compound that stimulates chemoreceptor nerve endings in the skin, especially the mucous membranes.   Have you ever eaten a really hot pepper and all of a sudden your nose starts running and your eyes tears up?  Well that is … Continue Reading

Chili Peppers (also known as Chile Peppers) are a mild to hot pepper depending on which variety you purchase.

When purchasing fresh chili peppers from your local grocery store or farmer’s market you want to look for ones that are firm to the touch, no blemishes to their skin and ones that are non-wrinkled. Once their skin wrinkles their flavor and texture has changed. You will want to use them as soon as possible or store them inside a paper bag (not a plastic produce bag) inside your refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. When you remove them from the refrigerator … Continue Reading

The hardest thing about working with peppers is dealing with the spicy oils and the odors.  They get on your hands and your cutting boards and other surfaces and they can be difficult to get rid of sometimes depending on how strong the pepper is you are working with.  Here are 4 tips on methods you can use to clean up and remove those odors after preparing your peppers.

Tip #1: To remove pepper odors and oils from your cutting boards you can try using a solution of 3 tablespoons of lemon juice mixed with 1/2 cup of water. Place solution … Continue Reading

So many people are turning to growing their own healthy, organic foods as much as possible these days.  Peppers are a great item to grow, but after the harvest, preparing and preserving those peppers can be a challenge for some.  Here is a great way to roast your own homegrown peppers.

For any of the available peppers that you have chosen to grow be it bells, red chilis, jalenenos, there is a simple way to roast your peppers without the mess and cleanup.  First make sure you pick your veggies when they are firm and not soft.  Overly ripe will make … Continue Reading

You know how it is when you go to your favorite restaurant and have a wonderful meal and then you go home and try to recreate it.  But the flavor is just not right.  Something is missing.  That something can be as subtle as not using the right pepper, especially if we are talking about Asian, Mongolian, Chinese or Korean BBQ.

There is a difference in the peppers that are used in the Asian, Thai, Korean and Vietnamese foods.  Different areas of the world grow different types of peppers and they of course have distinct flavors.  If you are trying to … Continue Reading

With so many different types of hot peppers available, it is easy to become overwhelmed when selecting the right pepper for your dish.  Here is a brief summary of a few of the different types of peppers you will see in the stores and what peppers have traditionally worked well in dishes.

Anaheim Chilis are a long green pepper when they are growing, but when mature they turn red.  Often these peppers are used in a Mexican chili verde sauce when green and a chili colorado sauce when red.  These peppers are mild and work well in dishes like stuffed peppers, … Continue Reading

InsaneChicken.com just added 4 new sauces for our friends at DragonFire Hot Sauces.  This small hot sauce manufacturer from Easton, Pennsylvania make some great tasting hot sauces.

The sauces range from mild to wild on the heat scale but no pepper extracts in these gourmet sauces. Try each one of the sauces and give us your feedback.

DragonFire Mild Hot Sauce, DragonFire Medium Hot Sauce
DragonFire Hot Sauce – Hot, DragonFire Naga’s Revenge Hot Sauce

Once you try them you will definitely be a fan.

Continue Reading

Increase Your Health by Eating Peppers
Researchers have found that adding peppers into your diet can bring you many added health benefits.  Peppers come in sweet or spicy and either type you like, there are great health benefits to them all.  First and foremost are the antioxidants that peppers are known for.  Antioxidants help neutralize free radicals which can harm our cells.  Reduction of these pesky free radicals means that you can reduce or prevent certain diseases.  The more colorful foods, including peppers, you have in your diet, the better your body can prevent illness from occurring.

Using peppers in your diet … Continue Reading

Here at InsaneChicken.com we are thrilled to add two more of Cajohns Hot Sauces to our line up of great hot sauces. We have just added Lethal Injection Hot Sauce and Mongoose Hot Sauce. Both of these killer sauces are on our list of Hottest Hot Sauces ever created and Mongoose made it to the top 25 of the hottest hot sauces.

Try either one or both of these sauces. Cajohns Fiery Food Company always quality sauces. Continue Reading

InsaneChicken Welcomes Wicked Cactus Sauces to Our Lineup
InsaneChicken.com is now carrying 2 of Wicked Cactus Sauce, LLC most popular sauces. We are now proud to be selling Wicked Cactus Head Hunter’s Paradise made wtih smoked Habanero and Pineapple and Wicked Cactus Aliento del Diablo the ghost pepper makes this one truly stand out from the crowd.

Wicked Cactus makes deliciously hand crafted gourmet sauces that you just have … Continue Reading

If you have ever traveled to New Mexico or Arizona I am sure that you have seen the big strings of Chili Peppers hanging in restaurant or in kitchens around the area.  This is not only for decorative use, but it is also a method of preserving your chili peppers for future use by drying them.  It is something that you can do as well should you have a bountiful harvest and want to save some for another time.

The first thing to do to start drying them is to clean them thoroughly. Use thick string to hang the peppers from … Continue Reading

Top 25 List of Hottest Hot Sauces
InsaneChicken.com is proud to present to you a list of the top 25 worlds hottest hot sauces for 2012 still in production. There have been other that have come and gone that have been hotter as you can see in the list of hottest hot sauces ever created.

We have all of the sauces in RED in stock but beware these are brutally hot.

Hot Sauce … Continue Reading

We have been told since we were in school, and definitely from our moms, to eat our veggies and the more colorful the veggie, the better it is for us.  Well, I guess mom was right.  Peppers come in a huge variety of colors and you can get them from mild to fiery, smoking hot.  The health benefit of the pepper is huge.  Here is a bit of information on just how healthy they can be for you.

I bet you didn’t know that peppers are packed with nutrients.  They’re one of the richest sources of vitamins A and C, the … Continue Reading

People are constantly asking what are the world’s hottest hot sauces for 2012 so we put together the list of the hottest hot sauces ever created. If you are a hot sauce lover then chances are you have heard of the Scoville scale and know how it is used.  But for the newcomers to the love of hot sauce, it is interesting to note how hot sauces are rated and how hot they really can get.

The Scoville scale is a measurement of the spicy heat (or piquance) of a chili pepper. It is named after its creator, American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville. His method, devised in 1912, is known as the Scoville Organoleptic Test. The number of Scoville heat units (SHU) in a particular pepper indicates the amount of capsaicin present. What is Capsaicin? It is a chemical compound that stimulates chemoreceptor nerve endings in the skin, especially the mucous membranes.   Continue Reading

How hot is hot? When it comes to growing peppers, for some, it can never be too hot! News has it that there is a new King in town. King of the Hot Pepper!

The guys over at The Pepper Seed and several other sites, are telling us that the new crowned king is the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T. According to the post, the Butch T Trinidad Scorpion tested at 1,463,700 SHU (SHU = scoville heat units). The current official Guinness record holder is the Naga Viper pepper or ghost pepper which tested at 1,382,118 scoville heat units. Any way you test it that is amazingly HOT! Continue Reading

Chicken is one of the most popular choices amongst grilling and barbecue enthusiasts. It’s versatile – it goes well with a variety of seasonings, sauces, side dishes, and toppings. It’s cheaper than steaks too, making it an ideal option for barbecue parties. And of course, chicken is also healthier. Did you know that skinless, light-meat chicken when cooked is 33% to 80% leaner than trimmed cooked beef (though it may of course vary on the cut and grade of the beef). In addition, chicken absorbs flavors easier than pork or beef that you can marinate it for as little as half an hour and off you go, ready for the grill.

Barbecue  Chicken – The Best Parts… Continue Reading

Jamaican Jerk is a special jerk type cooking offered from Jamaica to the rest of the world. Jerk cooking is almost a 250 years old style of authentic Jamaican cooking. It was brought in slaves to Jamaica. Jamaican Jerk sauce is special for the fresh spices from Jamaica, which are world famous for its natural oil and aromatic contents and are low on cholesterol content compared to other spices. The combination of spices increases the appetite for Jerk food and the traditional way of serving calls for Jamaican festivals.

The Jamaican Jerk sauce should … Continue Reading