Happy Halloween. Are you brave enough to take on this Ghost?

I'm a brave eater. Most anything you put in front of me, or dare me to eat, I give it a shot. On top of that, I'm a fan of heat, especially in my food. If it's hot and spicy I say bring it on.

One particular item has never passed my dainty lips though. I'm betting that since it's Halloween, somewhere out there people will be tempted to try out a ghost pepper. Beware though because there are plenty of reasons to be very cautious when eating one of the spiciest peppers around.

Ghost peppers are becoming a popular ingredient in restaurants. I'd order a dish with them in it, because I'm trusting in the fact that the chef knows how to not burn my guts out! These suckers are even showing up in food challenges. And that's where this taste sensation can take a horrible turn.

In a story from the Chicago Tribune, some dude had a hole burned into his esophagus while consuming ghost pepper puree. Yeah, that's where I step off. Want to know exactly how hot they are, without actually eating one?

Website pepperseeds.eu, gives a run down of the Scoville scale which is used for measuring heat.

A bell pepper is zero units on the Scoville scale. A jalapeno falls between 2,500 and 8,000 units, while a habanero is about a half-million. A bhut jolokia , or as we know it, ghost pepper, tops the charts at 1 million units. By the way, police pepper spray clocks in at 5 million Scoville units.

Makes Candy Corn look more appealing doesn't it!

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