One of my Dad's closest friends at McGill University was a guy from Kingston, Jamaica. I just grew up thinking of him as my "Uncle Jack"...and the rest of his family as our extended family....and it works/worked both ways for his widow, kids, sibs and nephews and nieces, mother, cousins, and aunts. My aunt would pack us a lunch for the beach that would include 2 jars of pickled peppers, loaf of bread and some other stuff....being the little s***s that we were - some would argue that we still are - we would arrange to add one or more bottles of overproof rum, and some soda, limes and lemons. We'd climb some trees and grab fresh coconuts or bananas to have on hand to put out any "fire". After awhile, dunno if it was the rum, or my tolerance levels increased to the point that there wasn't any need to put out any fire...the coconuts and bananas were only for flavour...lol. Not much I can't handle anymore, I guess.
When I lived in the U.K., or after when I went back to visit, a friend and I would go for Indian and Caribbean food - trying to find the hottest we could in all of London. London definitely has a wealth of selection of Indian and Caribbean food - from the glorious to the fast food crap. Although we were looking for heat, we were also looking for flavour too. My friend rated heat on a scale of:
Mild - barely a hint of heat
Medium - a teaser
Hot - not breaking a sweat, but definitely assertive
Complicated - remembering to put the toilet tissue in the freezer before departing for the restaurant!
I can say we found few of the Hot and not enough of the Complicated, at least to us, and unfortunately way to many of the "amateur" mild and medium categories.
So far I haven't found any scotch bonnets grown in Canada that meet the same levels of those in Jamaica. Could be the sun and heat and longer growing season there, but I also have to think that the Island's abundance of bauxite in the soil "colours" the flavour with nuances rarely found elsewhere. I've had them grown in Georgia, Florida and Texas. Some of those grown in Georgia came close, but still not the same. I even brought back seeds from Jamaica the last time I was there for Scotch Bonnets. Still didn't taste the same. Sighhhh. Oh well....just more motivation to visit, I guess.
but then again, it might be the SB & Rum combo that makes a difference too....lol.
Hmmmm.....beginning to think a scientific tasting comparison is called for in this case. Will let you know what I find out.