That’s true enough. They take watching and care in the early and late parts of the season, and I have to keep an eye on the weather in the fall. But summers can be extremely hot, which helps. I’ll generally only get one harvest, in the fall, though I might find some fruits are ready in late summer. In short, growing hot peppers can be done here in Canada; and if Mother Nature cooperates and I do things right, the results can be frighteningly hot.
I might not say it out loud, but this is what would be going through my head.
You: I don’t like chocolate ice cream, which tastes a little bitter. I like vanilla.
Me: Are you effin’ kidding me… what a wimp!
You: I don’t like wheat bread. It tastes dry. I like white.
Me: What?, are you 3??? Should we cut the crusts off too you wimp?
You: I don’t like spicy food. It’s painful. I like non-spicy food.
Me: Yeah, not everyone is into the heat.
Wimp
Resurrected, 'cause after almost 3 years I had the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to Michigan for some Pace Hot Salsa. While visiting family in Sarnia, Ontario I drove to Port Huron Michigan and got a couple of jars of Pace. I also bought a refrigerated tub of “La Mexicana” Hot Salsa, which is good, but Pace is just phenomenal.
I figure I’ll be making a trek to Ogdensburg, New York a few times a year now to stock up, if I can find it there. It will be worth it if I fill up with gas and maybe get some milk or cheese at the same time.
Ahhhh… Pace! I should have bought a case.
My theory is that the difficulty of finding hot salsa is related to the disappearance of “firm” toothbrushes from stores. Lots of soft, mooshy toothbrushes out there, but firm bristles have virtually vanished. Wimps.
Anyway, if you like Pace salsa (glurph), what’s to stop you from cutting up some hot peppers (plus garlic, cilantro etc.) and amending the stuff to your taste?
My favorite Mexican restaurant serves a fresh hot salsa that is too lethal to consume on its own, but greatly perks up their standard salsa. And none of this “oo, it burns my mouth” silliness. As long as a salsa makes my scalp sweat, it’s in the properly flavorful range.
There is now a Mexican food stall in the ByWard Market building. They have authentic Mexican food (including soft drinks) and also sell sauces, etc. Might be a good place to start.
They also have very, very good tacos!
If you like Pace, why aren’t you just buying the stuff from Amazon?
Shop around while you’re there and see if you can find some good salsa while you’re at it. 
I feel sorry for the northern residents of this globe. Here in the southwest, we have many Hispanic markets that offer their own salsa’s, and those salsa’s are leagues ahead of ketchup, I mean Pace. If you’re not sweating by the second bite, it’s not hot sauce. If you can find some Tapatio, it’s a fair substitute for adding some kick, but it won’t make you sweat.
eta
If you ever make it down to the SF Bay Area, try to find some Casa Sanchez Chile And Tomate Asado Salsa. They only make it in small batches, which is good because it so addictive.
Well, that’s news to me! I’ll report back in a week or so!
Gracias.
Some grocery stores sell Guar Gum. That’s what gives jarred salsa (and some grocery store fresh salsa) that gelatinous texture. You might look into adding that to your recipe.
People who like hot stuff are a dime a dozen.
I know of a guy who likes to eat dog shit. Yes, dog shit!
Do any of you guys like to eat dog shit?
Why not? You can’t handle it or something?
Bunch of wimps.
Just go get a Rick Bayless cookbook and it’ll have a half-dozen salsa and guacamole recipes in it.
I learned, in a mexican restaurant that was treating me with kid gloves, that if the salsa wasn’t spicy enough, I could add a few drops of El Yucateco sauce to it, and make it just as hot as I wanted it…The sauce is from Mexico, and it’s made from habanero peppers, and Mexico is a long way from you…if only it was available in Canada…
http://www.elyucateco.com/english/where-order/where-order-CAN.html
Very constructive. Thank you for sharing.
I’m giving you a warning for threadshitting. If you don’t care for the topic of a thread, stay out of it – don’t post calling the participants assholes.
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
I like Trinidad Moruga Scorpion salsa, but two million Scoville units is barely enough to get my taste buds tingling.
I was in Budapest last year and one of the servers warned me about a pepper that was in the stew. It basically had no heat. Less that a banana pepper, but more than a bell pepper. That was weird.
My son planted a Jamaican Scotch Bonnet pepper plant in our back garden this year. I wasn’t sure how hot they’d become in our (relatively) northern climate of Toronto. The plant has yielded around 30 peppers around the size of a ping pong ball. The first one we tried, my son cut it up and then wiped his nose - holy fuck, you’d have thought we were killing him; it took about an hour to get him settled. I had some of those slices on my pizza that night - two 1/8th inch square bits per slice of pizza, and that was plenty hot. I use about 1/2 of one in a medium sized pot of chili, and it’s just fine.
Unscientific conclusion from one season’s experiment - I think the plants grow just as hot up here as they do down south. I now have a jar of vinegar and hot pepper slices in the fridge that will probably last much of the winter.
I lived in Albuquerque for 8 years before I could eat Mexican food. After a while you figure out that the burning, nose leaks, and tearing eyes aren’t going to kill you and then you start appreciating the green chile. Makes a good seasoning for your stew.