Instructions: HABANERO RUM: I put two or three roasted habaneros into a small jar and covered it with rum. (Fans of Barbados Delites crushed peppers in rum will know why; its a great flavor combination.)

I havent done much with the rum except make absolute kick-ass hot toddies.

When youve got a cold, and a sore throat, and you need something that will clear you up and make you forget about your troubles, try this:

EXTRA-HOT HOT TODDIES: Mix the first three ingredients in a mug or heatproof cup. Pour boiling water over the other ingredients; stir to dissolve honey.

Notes: One teaspoon of the habanero rum is about all you need. Remember, those of you who have your Mercks Indices out at hand, that chemical reactions double for every 10 degrees C, so if you drink this at standard coffee cup temperature (about 60 C, 140 F), youll feel the capsaicin nearly 16 times as
*quickly* as you would at room temperature (22 C, 72 F).

In purely subjective terms, its about like the difference between picking up a loaf of hot bread from the oven - where the bread isnt too dense and the surface has lots of air pockets to dissipate the heat - and picking up a piece of metal out of the same oven at the same temperature. Theres also some synergistic effect between the actual heat of the liquid on your mouth and the "synthetic heat" effect of the capsaicin on your nerve endings, but I havent worked that one out yet. -Scott "Like a cross between Doctor Science and Captain Capsaicin" Fisher

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