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If heat equals strength and this is the World's Strongest Man Contest, the habanero chile can lift an 18-wheeler. The serrano can lift a VW van. The jalapeño can lift a Vespa, which is still pretty powerful compared to the pepperoncini lifting a Big Wheel way down at the bottom of the Scoville scale. But there is much more to a chile pepper than its brawn. Different varieties have different flavors, colors and shapes and play different roles in cooking. Here’s a breakdown of three popular varieties. The habanero: Lantern-shaped and bright yellow or orange, the habanero is the hottest chile that is readily available in U.S. groceries. You can seed habaneros to lower the heat, but when working with them, wear gloves and keep your hands away from your face. Wash anything that touches the chile's seeds or juices. The habanero's floral, tangy flavor works well as the focal point of a dip. The serrano: Looks like a slender jalapeño. As it ages, it turns from green to red to yellow. Rich and potentially blistering (though sometimes fairly mild), serranos show up most often in salsas, marinades, sauces and chilis. Its size and shape make the serrano difficult to core and seed, so the best way to temper it is by using less of it. The jalapeño: A workhorse pepper that is easy to find in most grocery stores. It's easy to work with, too. If you have a moderate tolerance for heat, you should be able to handle a jalapeño without removing the seeds and ribs. (If you're less tolerant of heat, try taking out the seeds and ribs.) Jalapeños are dark green (red when extra ripe) and have a sweet flavor that is similar to a bell pepper with a kick. Reference: Help! I ate a hot pepper! (Cookthink) Reference: How to seed a chile pepper (Cookthink) Reference:: Why are some jalapenos hotter than others? (Cookthink)

What is soy sauce?

Soy sauce is a salty liquid made from fermented soy beans, roasted wheat, water and salt. Packed with umami, soy sauce is used as a condiment and seasoning in Asian cuisines. Soy sauce comes in many subtle variations, but is generally broken down into dark and light varieties. Light soy sauce is generally saltier and thinner than dark soy and does not stain food while cooking. Chinese black soy has added molasses that colors dishes as it cooks. The whole soy beans used to make quality soy sauce lend it a dark color, but cheaper brands using soy protein may cheat by adding caramel coloring. The Japanese use soy sauce as a dipping sauce for sashimi or to season tofu, grilled meat and vegetable dishes. The Chinese use soy sauce mainly for marinades. In Indonesia, it is used mostly as a table condiment (called kecap, which comes in sweet and salty variations). Be warned: though Japanese tamari (a slightly thicker and complex soy sauce made from more soybeans than most) is generally wheat-free, other commercial brands of soy sauce do contain gluten, so if you are trying to cook gluten-free, check the labels carefully.

How to seed a chile pepper

Most of the heat in a chile pepper -- whether jalapeño, serrano, habanero, or another -- comes from the white ribs and seeds. Removing both reduces the chile's heat and allows more of the pepper's flavor to come through. First, cut the pepper in half lengthwise. If you want the halves to stay intact for larger slices or a large dice, just trim out the seeds and ribs, cut out the stem, and slice the pepper as thick or thin as you like. Otherwise, it's easier to get the seeds and ribs out if you cut each half in half again. To get the seeds and ribs out, hold each quarter by the end. With the knife parallel to the cutting board, slice across the ribs and seeds. When you get to the top of the pepper, turn the knife downward toward the cutting board and chop off the stem with the same motion. (Here, we used a Granton Santoku knife; you may prefer a smaller paring knife.) Reference: Help! I ate a hot pepper! (Cookthink) Reference: How to seed a chile pepper (Cookthink) Reference:: Why are some jalapenos hotter than others? (Cookthink)

Root Source: Dark Rum

what you should know Christopher Columbus brought Asian sugar cane to the West Indies in 1492. The sweet, fibrous stalk spread quickly throughout the Caribbean. A century and a half later, the liquor distilled from it was notorious enough to be banned by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Rum is made from both fermented sugar cane and its syrupy by-product, molasses. Rich, caramel dark rum is made by aging clear rum in casks, usually ones made of charred oak. (The double distillation process is similar to the one used to make Cognac.) yo ho ho Drinking rum to excess was a popular theme of pirate songs, and its general affiliation with the sea led to some interesting cocktails. Most of us know about grog, a mixture of rum and water (and sometimes lime). Kill Devil was a mixture of rum and gunpowder. Bumboo called for rum, water, sugar and nutmeg. And Rumbullion contained rum, wine, tea, lime, spices and -- one imagines -- anything else lying around Blackbeard's galley. triangle trade Sugar cane and rum formed one leg of history's most despicable triangle trade routes. rum do Spiced rum, which is flavored with spices and (often) caramel, does not qualify as dark rum. Neither do screech and tafia, two distinct corruptions of "proper" rum. what you need Several rum-centric histories have been published over the past few years: Ian Williams' Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776; Wayne Curtis' And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails; and Charles Coulombe's Rum: The Epic Story of the Drink that Conquered the World. Save your back from all that hunching over to read the side of the measuring cup. Invest in an OXO Good Grips 2-cup angled measuring cup. While you're indulging your OXO love, plop down the $20 for this 8-inch double rod strainer. what you do We used rum to deglaze the pan and form the base of the pan sauce, which infused some richness to this dish of braised pork with mushrooms and basil. A stewed chicken dish popular in Trinidad and Tobago, this potent Caribbean chicken is sweet, spicy, rich and mouth-filling. Speaking of Trinidad, to make a local rum punch, remember this little ditty: one part sour, two parts sweet, three parts strong, four parts weak. And then there's the rest of the rum canon. Hot buttered rum. Hurricane. Mojito. Cuba libre. The list goes on. Though the rum's optional in this banana hazelnut upside down cake, we urge you to tip it in.

What's the difference between light and dark rum?

Rum is a liquor made from both fermented sugar cane and its syrupy by-product, molasses. The rum is aged in casks of various materials which determine its final color. Light rum (also called silver or white) is fermented in steel and filtered and has a clear color and a light, slightly sweet taste. Gold or amber rums are aged in oak, which produces a more caramel color and richer, more pronounced flavor. Rich, caramel dark rum is made by aging clear rum in charred oak casks, giving it a deep brown color and a full flavor. Note that spiced rum, which is flavored with spices and (often) caramel, does not qualify as dark rum.

How to mince ginger

When you want the flavor of ginger to permeate a a sauté , stir-fry, sauce or braise, mince it. For the most ginger flavor, mince it finely and add it toward the end of cooking. Cooking ginger longer mellows its flavor. We usually start with what we call a "thumb" -- a piece of ginger roughly the size and shape of your thumb. To make the thumb easier to peel, start by cutting off any small protruding parts. You can peel and mince these separately. We like to peel ginger with a spoon. Because a spoon is dull, it easily takes off the soft skin and leaves most of the aromatic flesh behind. Slice the peeled thumb lengthwise into planks, thick or thin depending on how fine you want your mince to be. After you slice away one or two planks, roll the thumb over on the flat side for more stability. Stack the planks and slice them lengthwise into matchsticks. Now just gather the matchsticks together, rotate them 90 degrees, and slice them crosswise to complete the mince. For a finer mince, just run your knife across the pile a few times, chopping as you go.

What is a Scotch Bonnet pepper?

The Scotch Bonnet chili pepper is one of the hottest peppers known to man, right up there on the Scoville scale with the habanero. Yellow, orange or red, these little roughly one-inch peppers from the Caribbean have an irregular shape and are named because of their resemblance to Scottish tam o'shanter bonnets. Scotch Bonnet peppers are used to make Jamaican jerk and other Caribbean dishes. Don't try to show off and eat them raw, which can cause dizziness, numbed cheeks and hands, and a bad case of heartburn.