What to do with Trinidad Scorpian?

At a farmers market earlier this summer I picked up a Trinidad scorpion plant, and gave it to my brother in law. Now the peppers have been harvested and dried and we are curious what to do with them. From what I read they are HOT. So now that the novelty has worn off, we are hoping there is something more to do with them than look at them. Any ideas? Anybody else ever grow them?

I grew them this summer. They are currently in my freezer, awaiting I'm not sure what. To give some perspective on the heat, I used ONE in a gallon of salsa that I made for the LTH picnic--now, granted it had other peppers in it to but I used the exact same combo as a base for a roasted salsa, minus the scorpion pepper that was very palatable. The version incorporating the scorpion was off the charts hot. You can also ask Laikom to comment--he took a bite out of one--did not look like much fun to me! More than likely I'm going to make a giant batch of hot sauce at some point this winter and can them. Hopefully I'll find some takers for them!!

The amazing thing is that dried peppers can keep for a really long time. I have random hot peppers that a friend grew in his garden and that I dried on window screens in probably 1988. They are still hot, still have flavor, and still go into my food.

I'd be thinking about jerk paste

I have no answer to this question, outside of the obvious responses. Take something that is normally very hot and make tons of it. I was curious as to the flavor. Outside of being just hot, do these peppers have a distinctive flavor that can withstand dilution? Habaneros for instance, have a fairly powerful and delicious taste. Since the Habanero's hot kick is somewhat delayed, it is possible to enjoy the flavor moments before your taste buds are paralyzed. These Scorpion peppers sound many times as powerful as Habaneros. When diluted in gallons of hot-sauce or chili, do they have a noticeable flavor other than just hot?

In the South Pacific, many islanders use pineapple to cool off the heat from peppers. In theory, pineapple contains an enzyme that dissolves the heat causing barbs present in hot food. The Islanders often make a very hot sweet and sour type dish (much to the chagrin of heat averse German tourists). They will also sometimes place a bowl of sliced pineapple on the table when serving hot food. I think there is some merit to the practice, but I am not sure that the heat reduction is that noticeable. Then again, it takes a lot of "hot" to send me searching for relief. My dad on the other hand, who had a much lower tolerance for heat, swore by the method.

Szechuan cuisine utilizes the Hua Jyau or numbing spice in pepper laden dishes. Whereas pineapple modifies the properties of the food, Szechuan pepper corns modify the physiological behavior of the tasting mechanism. Hua Jyau makes tastebuds less reactive to "hot", thereby allowing other flavors to be experienced. That makes me think that a dish like Szechuan chicken with chilies or any recipe that includes Szechuan pepper corns, might be a good choice. Stick to something fairly simple that lets the natural flavor of the peppers prevail.

In a larger perspective, your query raises the question of "how hot is too hot?". There must be a point where peppers are just too hot to be useful for anything but practical jokes. Can people name some of these ultra-hot pepper varieties that also have a pleasant flavor that is powerful enough to beat the heat? I suppose removing seeds helps one to experience the pepper's flavor, but that sort of defeats the purpose of breeding a super-hot pepper. The competitiveness in breeding ultra-hots sort of reminds me of the world's hoppiest beer competition. What good is a beer that tastes like soap, even if I has the most IBU's ever?