20 in my 20th: Eat a Habanero

1. Eat a habanero. This could be raw, whole, or cooked in some dish. No ditching the seeds though.

For literally months, I would buy one habanero every so often while grocery shopping. For months they would one by one shrivel up, start to get funky dark spots, and get thrown into the garbage. 

Finally, one night (apparently last April 10th, according to the time stamp for this photo in my phone), while hanging out watching netflix by myself at my apartment, I convinced myself to just do it.

I grabbed the pepper, sized it up for a moment, and then took a big bite.

crappy phone pic

It was hot.
It made my eyes water.
It had surprisingly nice flavor.
It was really, really hot.
It made my belly hurt.
I wouldn't recommend it.

Yeah, it was pretty much crazy hot. Not anaphylactic-shock-inducing hot, but definitely oh-god-do-we-have-milk-in-the-house?! hot. If you're going to eat a habanero raw I hope you have tastebuds and intestines of steel.

They are pretty nice when used sparingly though, like in salsa or to spice up a marinade or something. They have kind of a fruity, mellow flavor beneath the heat.

I do kind of feel like a badass for having done this though. Way to go, year-ago me!