2 Million Scoville: Hotter Than Hot

So this is what happened: 2 guys ate Chili Sauce with 2,000,000 Scoville 🥵

That's double the heat of police pepper spray! I won't tell you how they did it.

I will show you.


Arena of Heat: Curry sixty six 66

Curry sixty six 66 GmbH is the real deal.

Located in the Boxhagener Park neighborhood in Friedrichshain it is know for it's incredibly spicy sauces 🌶

The spiciness scale goes from 1-10:

  1. Angenehm - okay-ish
  2. Mittelscharf - medium
  3. Scharf - spicy
  4. Indian Summer - 240,000 Scoville [👈 THIS IS WHERE THE ACTION STARTS]
  5. Scharfe Emma - 450,000 Scoville
  6. Asia Tiger - 1,000,000 Scoville
  7. Volle Moehre - 2,000,000 Scoville
  8. Dirty Devil - 4,000,000 Scoville
  9. Balla Balla - 7,100,000 Scoville
  10. Black Death 66* - 13,600,000 Scoville (* you have to sign a waiver before eating it)

Quick Excursion: Scoville Scale

From Wikipedia:

"The Scoville scale is a measurement of the pungency (spiciness or "heat") of chili peppers and other spicy foods, as recorded in Scoville Heat Units (SHU) based on the concentration of capsaicinoids, among which capsaicin is the predominant component."

Natural 'chili heat' only goes up to ~3M Scoville, meaning that all the sauces past #8 are using chemical synthesis to generate the abnormally-high heat levels.


Pre-Game: Father, Forgive Them, For They Not Know What They Do

Lifted spirits before the big event. Of course someone wanted to take on the challenge.

Commute to the arena
"Every single time I come to Berlin something bad happens. First time, I got a severe food poisoning. Second time, I destroyed my phone. Let's see what's coming this time." - Clemens

Then this happened in front of the Curry shop. An omen?


Scharfe Emma (Lvl 5 / 450,000 SHU): Ready Players, Go!

First round went something like this:

Game-readiness: Check.
Some say this is what youthful overconfidence looks like.
Both players examining the subject.

Suffering was intense.

But after a bit of milk and some time, the decision was made: Let's continue ✅


Asia Tiger (Lvl 6 // 1,000,000 SHU): Deceptively Manageable

One of the main safeguards at Curry sixty six 66 is to not let patrons eat anything spicier than Level 5, unless one of 2 things:

  1. The owner/staff knows you - and your spice tolerance - personally.
  2. You eat the previous level of spice in front of the owner/staff. If you manage then you're off to the next level.
Asia Tiger. Vicious but for some reason manageable if Level 5 has been eaten.
"Chin Chin." Or whatever is said when you toast hellish spice. Funny story, 'chin chin' actually means 'to your health'... Not sure this is the right pretext in this occasion.
Is this what happiness looks like?

We should have stopped here.


Volle Moehre (Lvl 7 // 2,000,000 SHU): Out-of-Body Experience

Remember the last image? ... The following events happened 10 minutes later.

Studying the beast.
Serenity
Meeting his creator.

...

The minutes that followed were not documented (1) out of respect for the players and (2) because the photographer was laughing tears and couldn't get a steady shot. It was great.


Post-Game: Honors and Analysis

Eating spicy at Curry sixty six 66 is like being an athlete in the Olympic Games:

"The important thing is not winning but taking part" - Olympic Idea
Playing by his rules: Man in the middle.

Quotes from the event:

  • "After suffering through the initial pain you get a body rush. A great feeling."
  • "After eating the 5 it was not so difficult to eat the 6."
  • "GIVE ME THE FUCK*** MILK!!!"
  • "I will never do this again."

Text message 2 hours after the event:


Closure: Lessons Learned

#1: Dairy Helps

Bring milk and ice cream. You won't regret it.

Casein in the milk helps to break down capsaicin.

#2: Don't Drink Alcohol

It is the worst idea, literally. It spreads capsaicin in the body/stomach and the bubbles don't make it better. Stay away.

#3: Don't Do It

Spice can add to a dish but after a certain level it is just pure pain. Tolerances are different of course but we're pretty sure no doctor would recommend you to eat >200,000 SHU due to its health benefits.

Use common sense and eat responsibly.