Scoville Therapy

So I am addicted to heat.  One of those people who requests hot sauce at any restaurant, orders Thai food as hot has they can make it, goes through crushed red pepper so quickly I buy it in bulk.  I think it was the years I lived in New Mexico that made me this way.  I don't remember being a spice hound before that, but boy, I'm hooked now.  Anticipating the summer is exciting because it means I can grow a new batch of habanero peppers, and make more salsa!  I went through my frozen supply from last year in record speed, and haven't had any really hot stuff since December some time.  I want more!
Like many things in this world, the love of spice has become a topic folks bond over.  There are TONS of blogs and websites devoted to all things hot and spicy, countless makers of super hot sauces, and there is even a heat scale devoted to the spice found in peppers.  The Scoville scale was founded by a man named Andrew Scoville back in 1912, it starts with sweet peppers (0 Scoville units) and goes as high as 16,000,000 Scoville units found in pure forms of capsaicin.  Should you want to judge your own heat tolerance, check out this ranking of common hot peppers.

My older son is a spice hound in training as well.  He really wants to be able to take the heat, and will follow my lead adding hot sauces and chili powders, with a lighter shake or pour.  More times than not, he still finds himself tearing up and struggling to eat his heated up fare, but he has come a long way from the early days when even black pepper was a bit too spicy for him.

His motivation is in part related to me and my love of all things hot and spicy, but it's also a way for him to feel a connection to New Mexico, and thus, his dad.  This is a hard subject for me to talk about because I don't want to violate any confidences, or bring things to a public forum that don't belong there. Still, having a child with an ex is tricky business, and supporting your young one as they find a way to navigate that mine field of emotion is always a challenge.  I'm sure my navigating hasn't always been perfect, but for the most part I am confident I've followed the path with my son's best interests in mind.  Still, he clings to every shred of connection he can make to dad, and the culture of New Mexico, it's foods and it's environs have become part of that clinging.  Plans for college are set in his 10 year old mind-- he wants to go to Albuquerque and study geology- and eat hot food.

Humans are such interesting beings.  We can be so deliberate in our actions and simultaneously oblivious to our motivation.  My son is such a bitter sweet example of this, as he jumps at any piece of life that might bring him closer to a man who has dropped the ball in some really difficult ways.  Watching a child who you love more than anything in the world try to come to terms with that experience is so painful, but in a way, encouraging his love of hot food is an easy way for me to support him in his search for connectedness to dad, and I appreciate that simplicity.  Spicy food has long been my remedy for a runny nose, or a cold, it warms me up on cold days, and strangely cools me down when it's really hot outside.  Why should I be surprised that it is has powerful therapeutic effects as well!  Long live hot peppers!!