Marco Budinis reports from Parma, Italy.  It was field day at Azienda Agraria Sperimentale (Agricultural Experiment Station), and ornamental chile breeder Mario Dadomo was showing off the largest collection of ornamental chiles, or peperoncini, as he calls them, ever assembled.  At left is a beautiful chile heart.

Here is the field:

 And a nice basket of ornamentals:

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Congratulations to Bon Bon Bakery and Chocolate of San Diego, Grand Prize (Tasting Division) Winner of the 2009 Scovie Awards Competition with their incredibly tasty Chile Verde Ganache with Sweet Corn!  The Sweet Heat category has won the Grand Prize more than half the time in the 12 year history of the Scovie Awards.  I was a table monitor and the judges at my table, after the sampling, commented on the beautiful appearance of the Chile Verde Ganache, and I think that really helped the product to win.  Of course, flavor had something to do with it as well.  Visit Bon Bon Bakery here.

We are now contacting all winners by phone, and once that is done, we will post all the winners on the SuperSite.

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Harald, our European editor, reports:  "I'm hugging a 396.4 kg (873 lb.) pumpkin, grown in Gluecksburg, northern Germany.  It was voted most beautiful this year, and 8th place for weight. That's a lot of pumpkin soup, and a hell of a carving job for Halloween, which has become increasingly popular over here the past couple of years."

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It's been more than five years now that an Indian "Mystery Chile" was making headlines, and claims for such a "new" variety were published in print, and all over the Internet. With almost one million Scoville Units, it was supposed to be several times hotter than the Red Savina^TM, the current holder of that title in the Guinness World Records. Time and again the hot pod popped up in the news, yet no one in the Western world had seen it. That has changed recently, as new claims for such a potent pepper came from the UK, and also from the renowned Chile Pepper Institute of the New Mexico State University.  Read the entire story, by Harald Zoschke, here.

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Soups are the elegant side of a chef's kitchen. In professional cooking, tradition holds that the head chef always makes the soup. In fact, if you catch the chef eating something in his kitchen, chances are it will be a soup. Why do chefs love soups? Because it gives them a chance to recycle some of the byproducts of the main dishes, as well as take advantage of seasonal ingredients.  In 1997, Ten Speed Press published this book by me and W.C. Longacre and what a labor of love it was!

Read the article here.

Buy the book here.

Here's a pic of one of the soups, Green Chile Bay Shrimp Chowder:

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New at one of my favorite New Mexico museums is a display called "Real Cristales: Royal Crystals of La Granja, Spain," that features about 70 pieces that were produced in a glass factory under the direction of the King of Spain. Most of the pieces were created around 1760 and were later sold in Mexico.

The exhibit runs through December 8th.  For more information on the museum, go here.

Full disclosure:  I am chair of the governing board of this museum. 

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Here is a partial view of the 2008 Chile Pepper Institute Demonstration Garden at NMSU in Las Cruces.  Every year, CPI plants 150-200 varieties of chiles to  educate visiting students, children, and  scientists. The Institute also sells seed of many of these varieties, including the super-hot 'Bhut Jolokia' at one million Scoville Heat Units.  Visit CPI here.

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Attention Manufacturers. We are now giving you the opportunity to have your new products (less than one year old) tasted by our assistant editors using the Scovie Judging forms.  You will get a score for tasting and one for product packaging.  And the results will be published on this blog. There is no charge for this promotion, but you must sign a release giving us permission to publish the results of the taste test.  For more information, email me here.

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The good doctor observes: "Halloween is the best holiday of the year for people who like to cross-dress and beg. I must admit that while I've participated in many counter-culture activities, cross-dressing has never made the list, even on Halloween. It might be because there just aren't any good dresses in my size...." Read more, here.  

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Attention Manufacturers. I am helping a friend sell a Quick Label QLS-4100 Xe high- speed digital color label printer. Due to a change to a commercial label printing company, this machine has only been used twice. My friend paid $20,485 and he will sell it for half price, $10,242. Quick Label confirms that this printer is the latest model, it has the newest technology, and it is a workhorse. If anyone out there is interested, email me here.

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