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habaneros

We're not sure if this would be considered a treat or torture for Dad, but on June 17 Chichen Itza restaurant is hosting its second annual habanero-eating contest as part of Mercado La Paloma's Father's Day celebration. Chichen Itza specializes in cuisine from the Yucatán Peninsula (we're big fans of the cochinita pibil), a region of Mexico not known to shy away from copious use of the habanero pepper, which measures anywhere from 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville units (jalapeños come in at a tepid 2,500 to 8,000). For anyone who's ever dabbed a bit too much habanero salsa on their tacos, it's no secret that these little orange bombs pack a payload of burn.

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Food Marathon

The hot sauce didn't make it to the table until a third of our whole fried snapper had been stripped down to its bones. Attracted by a laudatory L.A. Times article, we were dining at Flavors of Belize, a retooled cafe wedged into the Relax Inn on La Brea near San Vicente. One of the owners whisked past our table, and glanced over at the plates -- a muddy chirmole, a khaki conch stew, and the brown-gray fish sprawled out across a bed of beans, rice, plantains and potato salad.

"Oh, do you want hot sauce?" he said casually, bringing over a jar brimming with a peach-colored, nearly incandescent concoction. We went Jackson Pollack on our plate, bombing the mound of food with glowing blotches, and instantly the fish went from palatable to sublime.

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D. Gonzalez

Okra curry at Tara's Himalayan Cuisine

One of the most wonderful things about vegetables is their versatility. They can be combined with a wide variety flavors and spices, like bacon with brussel sprouts and mint with peas. But this ability to play nice with others has left many with the impression that, to taste good, vegetables have to be drowned in processed cheese sauce or pureed and baked into brownies. Not so. The best spice pairings for vegetables are those that make the most of the vegetable's own flavors. And one of those ideal matches is chiles.

Strictly speaking, chile peppers are fruits -- which is why they not only impart heat but add flavor. Through drying and smoking, chiles are transformed into a spice. In Mexico, when a chile exhibits both high levels flavor and heat, people say, "That chile turned out really bravo," using the same word used to describe bravery. And at Tara's Himalayan Cuisine, Shu Feng Yuan and Bacaro, chiles are used in dishes that highlight the qualities of the vegetables rather than overshadow them.

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D. Gonzalez

New Mexico Hatch Green chiles: Before the drum

What food trucks are to communal dining, Hatch green chile roasts are to communal cooking. Every August, lovers of New Mexico's fragrant and earthy Hatch green chile come to the events hosted by El Rey Farms, Albertsons and Bristol Farms and while they wait in line, they trade recipes, debate storage techniques and share conversion experiences. "They're Hatch chiles, they're amazing!" former Albuquerque resident Bob Klier told a curious on-looker who did indeed end up with their own sack of X-Hots at the Manhattan Beach Bristol Farms event. For Klier, the event was a homecoming, but for Keith Rogers from Riverside, it was the start of a new tradition. "Last year I split a sack with a friend, but it went quick." Looking at the 28-pound burlap sack of chiles in his shopping cart, he said, "This year, though, this whole thing is for me."

On Saturday, September 4th, Bristol Farms will be hosting their final chile roasts of the year at the store's Rolling Hills and Westchester locations. All of their locations will also have loose Hatch green chiles sold by the pound to roast at home until September 15th. After that, John Savidan, Director of Produce Marketing at Bristol Farms, lamented, "They're gone, until next year." Turn the page for a photo gallery of the Manhattan Beach roast. And maybe figure out a time to go pick some up.

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How do you like your cocktail? Straight-up, salty, sweet? How about mouth-burning, butt-kicking spicy? If it's heat you crave, L.A.'s latest cocktail craze - all things jalapeño - is for you. Mixologists from Santa Monica to downtown to the Valley are turning to the Mexican-grown chili to add a kick to classic cocktails, spice up fruity libations and, with 2,500-8,000 Scoville heat units per pepper, even make their customers cry. Still interested? Here's where you can get some of L.A.'s hottest cocktails; just don't say we didn't warn you.

Felicia Friesema

jalapeños at the farmers market

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Last fall we checked in with Jim Duffy, the San Diego man who grows some of the world's hottest chiles in his back yard. Recently, when we called him up again to see what he was growing, he agreed to give us a recipe that uses his chiles. This seemed liked like a good idea, given the fact that he's got a new crop of Bhut Jolokias, Trinidad 7 Pots, Malaysian Goronongs and Trinidad Scorpions, and that if you should find yourself in possession with some of these insanely hot chiles, you should probably know what to do with them. Sure, you can try eating them whole, videoing the experience and posting the results on YouTube, but there are other, more gastronomically satisfying (and saner) things you can do with them too.

Duffy, who runs the website Super Hot Chiles--where you can buy the fresh chiles if you're interested--told us a little about the Bhut Jolokia, or ghost chile, and gave us his recipe for Bhut Jolokia fish curry. Turn the page...

Jim Duffy

Bhut Jolokia chiles

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Security forces in India have a plan to put chile powder in their hand grenades, according to a report last week by Reuters. Not just any chile either: no lame cayenne or ancho weapons for a country that grows the hottest chile peppers in the world. Inside the grenades will be Bhut Jolokia chiles, which have reached a record one million Scoville Heat Units (SHUs). By contrast, the previous record holder, the Red Savina, measured only 577,000 SHUs. I see a brave new world of signature pepper sprays.

Photo credit: Refiningfirechiles

Assam Bhut Jolokia chiles

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