Nuclear Taco

The Austin-based SXSW festival has featured “nuclear tacos.” These tacos are hot! According to the video “How to Prepare Nuclear Tacos,” the secret scorching ingredient is the Red Savina pepper, 65 times as hot as a jalapeño pepper!
   
       
YouTube
How to Prepare Nuclear Tacos
   
Wikipedia: Red Savina pepper
The Red Savina pepper is a cultivar of the habanero chile (Capsicum chinense Jacquin), which has been selectively bred to produce hotter, heavier, and larger peppers.

Frank Garcia of GNS Spices, in Walnut, California, is credited with being the developer of the Red Savina habanero. The exact method Garcia used to select the hottest strains is unclear.

The Red Savina is protected by the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Act (PVP #9200255).

Samples of Red Savina have been measured as high as 580,000 Scoville units. For comparison, this is twice as hot as a regular habanero pepper (100,000–350,000 Scoville units), and 65 times as hot as a jalapeño pepper. A cayenne pepper rates only 30,000–50,000 Scoville units.

In February 2007 the Red Savina chili was displaced in Guinness World Records as the hottest chili in the world by the Naga Jolokia pepper.

Metroblogging Austin
Nuclear Tacos
posted by Hesam at 7:58 PM on March 14, 2005
My words of wisdom for today: do not underestimate the nuclear taco.
 
After the panels today at SXSW, I ventured on over to Brush Square Park where there was to be free nuclear tacos and beer.

Considering the fact that I enjoy spicy food, I figured that the whole nuclear taco thing would not be a problem. As I slowly moved up in the line, “WARNING! NUCLEAR TACOS ARE INCREDIBLY HOT” signs were all around. I ignored them for the most part.

Nevertheless, I decided to play it safe and go with one “Hot” taco and one “Nuclear” taco. Yeah, uhmm, bad choice. I could barely eat the hot taco, and I found myself finishing a can of soda in record time. My lips are still burning as I write this. For a while, I felt like I was breathing fire.

I don’t know if nuclear tacos are an Austin thing and if they actually have any restaurants in the area that serve them. If they do, I’d highly recommend that you think twice before going for the “nuclear” flavor.

Mild, anyone?
 
bovineone
2006-03-26 22:11:00
Nuclear Tacos — During this year’s South By Southwest festival (SXSW) we of course had another Nuclear Taco Night. We again served several hundred people our usual batches of incredibly spicy tacos. It’s always a little amusing (but also a little upsetting) seeing people greedily fill their plates with multiple tacos and then not be able to even finish a whole taco. We need to think of a better way to dissuade first-timers from wasting so much.