Wednesday was taste test day for Flying Pie Pizzaria’s habanero pepper pizza season. Chicken, cheese and black olive pizzas topped with chili peppers. I’m a fan, and often explain to those with little habanero pepper experience that early season peppers are not super spicy. This year, that’s not true. More about that in a moment.
That is not cheese being piled on the pizza. Those are habaneros. I’m guessing this is a “quad.” The pizzas are sold as single, double, triple and quad – referring to how many peppers are on the pizzas. The quad is also topped with a drizzle of ghost pepper sauce.
Reference points for the heat. Habaneros can be 100 times hotter than jalapenos. Ghost peppers are at least 400 times hotter than jalapenos. Ghost peppers were crowned hottest in the world in 2007.
Since I overheard other taste-testers saying the habaneros were hot this year, I prepared my plate with a pool of ranch dressing for the pizza to swim in. The ranch can help take some of the sting away. Plus, I love ranch dressing, so any excuse…
I sampled the “single” version. Usually, I taste the citrus fruity-floral flavors of the peppers before the burn begins. This year, there was a zingy zap of pepper shock the moment a habanero touched my tongue. The electric feeling backed off a bit and I could detect the fruity flavor profile, and then the burn developed. Surprising and delicious.
Look at all the brave pepper heads. Below, the River’s Rochelle, Dylan from J105 and Big J from 100.3 the X.
If you’ve never tried a habanero pizza before from Flying Pie, you do have to sign a waiver.
Try a slice of each hotness level to see how far you can go. Habanero pizzas available all summer.
~Debbie