The hottest pepper you like?

[Conan The Librarian]

With so much one-upmanship in the use of hot sauces today, I wonder what people actually like as their hottest pepper. People are trying ghost peppers and essentially poisoning themselves with them. Others like it mild.
 
My favorite pepper is red jalapeno, and my favorite hot sauces are tabasco and louisiana. I like sriracha, but it has too many chemicals in it, so I make my own. Hotter than that, and I lose interest fast.
 
Another favorite is to stew some black peppercorns. It softens them up and they taste good when you mash them and put them in stuff.

[mdwest]

Im one of those guys that really likes hot/spicy foods..
 
When used correctly, I really like habaneros... they are far to hot to just eat whole like japlenos and milder peppers.. but when used in the right proportions to the rest fo the food they are prepared with.. they are excellent!
 
While in Haiti a couple of years ago I got really attached to a very spicy vinegar based cole slaw type dish called pikliz. Its got black peppercorns and chopped habaneros both in it.. its great as a burger or frank topper.. also works with eggs, pork, fish, and just about anything else you can imagine.. If you enjoy spicy foods.. give it a try (lots of recipes for it on the internet.. very easy and inexensive to prepare..).. great stuff!
 

[Old Fart]

My favorite is the Tabasco sauce peppers. Then the Lousianna Hot sauce peppers.
Habaneros pepper sauces take a little getting used to, but once on a roll I like them also. 
Not much on anything hotter, I just don't enjoy havng my hair sweat.   

[Old Syko]

Frank's Hot Sauce is one of my favorite store bought sauces just because of the all around flavor.  My favorite pepper is a hybrid cross developed by a local greenhouse.  It looks like a huge yellow banana pepper but equals a habenero in heat and has the flavor of a sweet tomato.  I plant 6 or 8 plants every year.   I use only japalenos with hot onions in out homemade salsa and picante sauce, then add the crushed hybrids to taste as we eat it.

[mdwest]

It looks like a huge yellow banana pepper but equals a habenero in heat and has the flavor of a sweet tomato.  I plant 6 or 8 plants every year.

that sounds like a good pepper!
 
i like a lot of heat.. but far too many hot sauces and peppers are too focused on making your mouth burn and not on giving you good flavor..
 
scotch bonnet peppers (close cousin to the habanero, but with a distinctly different flavor) are also among my favorites..

[Old Fart]

" .. but far too many hot sauces and peppers are too focused on making your mouth burn and not on giving you good flavor.. "
 
 
Boy that's the truth. 
Spare me the bonfire, I want good taste. 

[Old Syko]

Flavor is the big issue for me of course but even though I can take the heat it takes away from the true taste.  The main thing that restricts my intake of the hot stuff is the morning after.  My system seems to process japaleno and some habeneros without problems but anything much beyond that makes the passing (so to speak) an absolutely real issue.  Everyone has their own tolerance level and things that trigger that level and this is mine.

[gstewart44]

The one I use day in and out is the Cayenne (Louisianna hot sauces).  It's very versatile.
I grow Tabasco peppers and trim the bush to look like a Christmas tree, and they really do look like it with the fruit in various shades of ripeness.  It has a stronger flavor  than the Cayenne.
 
Jalapenos are ok.     Habaneros have an unpleasant flavor to me,  I prefer their tasty cousin, the Scotch Bonnet (Walker's Wood Jerk Spice).     These are at the upper limits of my tolerance for heat.
 
My Favorite for both heat and flavor is the Datil pepper.  It's bout as hot as a Scotch Bonnet but has almost a sweet flavor to it.  Been grown around St Augustine for hundreds of years.     

[Sourdough]

My Grandpa raised these little red peppers.  He put them in bottles and added vineger, making his own hot sauce.
 
Today I like Tobasco, and Lousianna, hot sauce.  I don't like any thing hotter.
 
As for peppers for cooking, or on prepared food, I use Jalopenos, nothing else.

[ratdog]

the other day at sportsmans i bought a rack that you can set peppers up in they are cut in half and cleaned out you just put what cheese you like with a little ham or what you like.set up in rack to fill. i cant eat a pepper that will burn my toungue. set rack in oven for around 30-40- minutes. going to try barbecue next these are really good.

[Victor3]

Flavor is the big issue for me of course but even though I can take the heat it takes away from the true taste.  The main thing that restricts my intake of the hot stuff is the morning after.  My system seems to process japaleno and some habeneros without problems but anything much beyond that makes the passing (so to speak) an absolutely real issue.  Everyone has their own tolerance level and things that trigger that level and this is mine.

 When I was younger, my favorite salsas were just shy of chemical weapons. They didn't phase me the next day. Somewhere in my mid 30's this changed and now I have to remember that if it's a 5 on the heat scale going in, it's generally gonna be a 10 on the way out.
 
 Unfortunately, a blended margarita is just cold enough to mask the "going in" heat level until it's too late. 

[XD40SC]

I grow cubanella peppers. Then add habanero to the hottness desired. Alot of flavor. While on Sanabel Island, I got some seasoned salt infused with ghost peppers. Excellent but a pinch is all you need. Adds zip to alot of hot foods, esp chili.

[oldandslow]

Jalapenos are about as hot as I want. Cayenne is good and I love Louisanna hot sauce on eggs. Around here all the cafes have tabasco and chalula sauce. It's ok but not as good as Louisanna.

Something new to me is a little green pepper that I don't know the name of but it looks like a juvenile jalapeno and has about the same hot. Throw some in a skillet of hot grease and cook until they turn brown, slice them open on one side and dribble fresh lemon juice in the cut. Um,um, GOOD. Grocery store here usually have them right beside the jalapenoes.

I like to core jalapenos, stuff them full of herbal cream cheese. wrap a piece of bacon around them secured with a toothpick and throw them on the grill. Be careful or you will have a big fire. If they are burned black on the outside it just makes them better.

Don't forget the long green chilies and they come in varities from mild to hotter than jalapenos. I love green chili. I don't care much for spaggetti sauces but the wife makes a meat sauce and adds green chili to it. Now that makes spaggetti worth eating.

[yellowtail3]

A little Cayenne is a good thing, on a LOT of dishes. Sliced jalepeños are good for burgers & subs.

[rockbilly]

For several years I was an active participate in chili cook-offs.  During that period we always had a smart ass wanting HOT chili, once I was accused of making chili for the old maids.  To remedy this, I bought some Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Peppers) wile in New Mexico; I let some dry, saved the seeds and planted them for years.  I also planted Chili Tepins (small peppers about the size of a peanut, I think they originally come from Thailand.)  Both are very hot, just the ticket to shut up a wise guy, I have sent some of the best looking for something to cool them off. 

I like a mild chili that has just a hint of a bite so I don’t use the hot stuff anymore but still have the chili tepins growing wild in my garden.  As for sauce, I do use Tabasco and Louisiana hot sauce for some dishes, I love it on eggs and hash browns.

According to the experts at the U. of New Mexico, the Bhut Jolokia is the hottest pepper available with chili tepin not far behind, either one will make the habanero seem like ice cream.