So today we're diving solo just me myself and I into the spicy world of peppers. Also, in November, it's National Pepper Month and we're going to be doing a collaboration on my YouTube channel. In this video, towards the end, I'm going to tell you how you can also create a video and join in on the collaboration. So thanks for joining me in this bonus episode. We're just going to talk a little bit about the history of the pepper, and I am just a fan. There is very few days that go by to where I don't have a pepper, whether it be at breakfast, at lunch, at dinner.

Time to fire up that grill. From smoked pork to smash burgers, outdoor cooking just tastes better. This is the Okie Smokin' Podcast, and here's your host, John Barry.

Or maybe it's not a pepper, but it's some hot sauce or some spiciness that a pepper has been in. Maybe it's some hot sauce or some spiciness that a pepper has been in, maybe it's some red pepper flakes, maybe it's some kind of a powder that just kicks things up just a little bit. So the origin of peppers goes back to 6,000 years. So, looking at the history of this, peppers have been around a long time. It's also believed that it originated in Central and South America and then it was shown that it was used for medicine. It was used for rituals and then eventually became a part of the food scene. It was also been used to treat certain toothaches. You know, you get you a, you think about it and you have a toothache and you could get you a pepper and put on there. The pepper can help numb that toothache and I don't know if it could be the pain, it could be the capsicum that is in that pepper, but that is probably not the case when you go way, way back. And the reason I say that is he wasn't necessarily that common back then. Most of these peppers were just mild. It wasn't until later, which we'll get into here in a minute. It wasn't until later that we started to talk about the Scoble unit. I'll tell you who invented that and what year that started to, when we really started to have fun with Peppers. To where it is today, to where we have every year some Pepper coming out and they're trying to break the new Pepper Scoble record. Right now I believe the filming of this video. It is the, not the Carolina Reaper, but it's the Apollo pepper that is the hottest pepper. There could be another. If you know, just comment below. In whatever platform you're listening to this episode in Let me know and listening to this episode in Let me know, and I'm sure there's going to be a hotter pepper.

Now, the peppers, like I said, were used for medicine. They were also used for rituals and they were also a cultural significance for Aztecs. For Mayans, peppers are weren't just food. They used them for a healing and those types of things and for, like I said, rituals. They get in groups, they do things together with these peppers, as you would today with the various types of items.

Now, later on, the pepper was introduced to Europe by the Spanish and Portuguese explorers after Columbus. Now, after Columbus, after they discovered them in Europe, this is when it started to go global and it wasn't until this time. Once it went there, it quickly spread to Asia, to Africa and then pretty much started to go worldwide. Then you started to see these cuisines and India curries and China, which is you know how many times do you see China dishes? They have a lot. They really really celebrate the pepper whenever. They use a lot of different dishes in the Chinese cuisine. So peppers is definitely something you're going to find there.

You go into a Mongolian barbecue and they're going to say how hot do you want it? How spicy are you willing to take this dish? And if it's me, you know there was a restaurant that I went to. I don't think it's still here. We're from Oklahoma and there used to be one and you would go to a Mongolian barbecue, which is you go up there and you get all of your ingredients your broccoli, your celery, if you want some kind of greens in it. They also had these miniature corns and stuff. There is still one in Norman, oklahoma, but you put all these ingredients and then you put beef, you put chicken or whatever protein you want and then the person will cook it. They will ask you do you want it spicy or not, and you can say a little, a medium or a lot. But there was one I remember that had like little clothespins and you would put like one clothespin, that meant little. You'd put two clothespins, that'd mean a little hotter, and you could put all the way up to like five and if you put even above two or three, it's hot. You put five and it gets super hot. So you've got to be careful because you may not even be able to eat that by the time they're done. But they really did get the food involved after the Columbus voyages, after it went out to these chefs, to these food experts and everything, and then it wasn't just mostly for medicine, it wasn't then no longer just for cultural rituals and those types of things.

Now there are plenty of pepper varieties as well and, as I said, it wasn't until later they started to get the Scoville and the Heat. But currently the pepper varieties we have we're going to start on the mild side is bell peppers. That's a mild, no heat. You've also heard of banana peppers. Now you can get a banana pepper or you can get a mild and a hot. They have both of them. I don't know of any bell peppers that are hot. If you do, let me know. But you go from this this is Mild to hotter. Bell peppers is the mild side. Jalapenos is a moderate heat.

For a lot of people they can be hot and their Scoville units, you know, usually about 5,000. Then you've got habanero and scotch bonnets, which is these are some of the hotter varieties. They start adding intense heat. They go great with fruit and flavor of the Caribbean. They also are great on Latin American dishes. They really bring out the flavors and the heat on those dishes.

You go up another level. You're at ghost peppers. These are some of the hottest peppers and this is really where most people tend to stop. Only the crazy people go to, like Carolina Reapers or the Apollo, and that's where you really get the super hot. There's also a scorpion and there's some other peppers in there. There's Pepper X. All these peppers are just stupid hot of 2 million to 3 million on the Scoville units. But also note peppers are extremely healthy. They're packed with vitamins. They got vitamin A, vitamin C, antioxidants and capsaicin, which is an anti-inflammatory and metabolism boosting of your properties, of your body. So if you could have a pepper a day, like I love to do, multiple peppers a day. Sometimes it's actually good for your health. But let's go ahead.

Before we talk about the collaboration, let's talk just a little bit about the Scoville unit. Now, the Scoville scale was not developed until 1912. It was by a pharmacist of the name Wilbur Scoville, and that's where you get the name of the Scoville scale. The scale measures how spicy the peppers are by the amount of capsicinoids that are in the pepper. So it's pretty cool and you can actually get a meter. I don't have one, I'd like to have one to where you can actually test how hot a pepper is, so you could see. So if you grow your own peppers, you could actually compare and see how hot each individual pepper is, if you pull it later, if you pull it earlier, and how it grows up. So pretty cool and something that you can do. So let me just go over some of the Scoble units.

Of course, I said the bell pepper's zero. There is no heat at all. Perfect for any dish, for kids, for anybody that don't like heat. Uh, perfectly fine, you could make you a salsa with it. It'll taste great and will be 100% mild. Mark my word I don't believe there is any hot bell pepper. I could be wrong. And if it is, I wouldn't call it the bell pepper because it would be something else. It's not a bell pepper. A bell pepper is not hot. I told you earlier a jalapeno is about 5,000. Actually, look in here it's 2,500 to 8,000. I think about 5,000 is about average. Sometimes you'll get one of those that you're like this is one of the hotter ones. You're close to that 8,000 mark probably. Now that's moderate heat. Your bell pepper zero heat, no heat, jalapeno, moderate heat.

Next you go to habanero. This is a big jump, big big 100,000 to over a quarter million, actually 350,000 on the Scoville unit. And it has a nice fruity profile. Goes great with fruit items as well, great in hot sauce. I make a blueberry habanero hot sauce. Mango's great with this hot sauce. So it pairs well and is an excellent fruit. Love them. They're kind of orange and excellent but definitely hot. An excellent, but definitely hot.

Then you go to the ghost pepper, which is 800,000 to 1 million, and we're not talking quite hot, we're going to say extremely hot. Um, this is where most people you know kind of hang out if they love heat, uh, ghost pepper. But if you really Want to go crazy, go to the Carolina Reaper at 1.4 to 2.2 million Scoville units and a new Pepper out. You don't hear much about it. You have the Pepper X and now you have the Apollo, which clocks in at over 3 million. I think it may start closer. The Carolina Reaper is 1.4 to 2.2. And the Apollo and some of them, hotter ones might start on that lower end of around 1.4 to 1.8. I don't know the numbers, but they do go up to and over 3 million. So extremely hot, the Scoville.

Now let me go ahead and tell you about our month of November. So November is National Pepper Month. I'm celebrating this by hosting a collaboration on my YouTube channel. You can find me at it's youtubecom slash, at Okie Smokin. That is the YouTube channel where I will be posting this and I would invite each and every one of you to join. And I would invite each and every one of you to join. Anyone that is a creator or has never created anything is welcome to join this collaboration.

All you must do is simply go ahead and create a video. You can cook you something with the peppers in it. You can make a dish it don't matter, maybe it's a dessert, it doesn't matter and you can use mild peppers, such as the bell pepper, or you can use a hot pepper, such as the ghost pepper, maybe two or three peppers. Whatever you want to do, Make sure you post this video anytime during the month that we're celebrating the pepper, november 1st, all the way to the end, any day in the month, or you can post two or three, simply add hashtag peppering it up. Hashtag peppering it up to the title or description of the video. That way, when people search the hashtag after Google and YouTube's algorithm determines what your video is about, you will become in the list.

Also, send a link to me. You can email me at john at okiesmokingcom. You can send it to my Facebook page or my YouTube page, any way you want, and I'll add it to a playlist. So you you'll be on our peppering it up playlist. This is going to be fun. We've got a few people already. I'm expected to start seeing videos early on in the month. I expect my first video to go out the first or second. I'm going to be doing a four part series, so check that out. Get ready for that, and that is just. We are a great way to celebrate the pepper.

Thank you for listening to the Okie Smokin' Podcast. Episodes drop every Monday. Don't forget to follow this podcast or you might miss out on some delicious creations. You can also find us on our website, okiesmokincom, and on YouTube and other social media platforms. Until next time, keep firing up that grill.