Paqui, the maker of extremely spicy tortilla chips marketed as the “One Chip Challenge,” is voluntarily pulling the product from shelves after a woman said her teenage son died of complications from consuming a single chip.
The chips were sold individually, and their seasoning included two of the hottest peppers in the world: the Carolina Reaper and the Naga Viper.
Each chip was packaged in a coffin-shaped container with a skull on the front.
Lois Wolobah told NBC Boston that her 14-year-old son, Harris Wolobah, ate the chip Friday, then went to the school nurse with a stomachache. Wolobah said Harris — a sophomore at Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester, Massachusetts — passed out at home that afternoon. He was pronounced dead at the hospital later that day, she said.
Until sales of the product were suspended, Paqui’s marketing dared people to participate in the challenge by eating a chip, posting pictures of their tongues on social media after the chip turned it blue and then waiting as long as possible to relieve the burn with water or other food.
The challenge has existed in some form since 2016.
As a sauce, I think tobasco is crap. MUCH better table sauces that you can leave out without worrying about your nephew crying because he drank a scotch bonnet.
But as an ingredient to fix something? Tobasco is awesome. It is basically just liquefied red pepper flakes. So if a meat sauce or something else that you can’t really taste until it is “done” needs a bit of spice, you can adjust a lot more easily without having chunks of peppers or grainy chili powder and so forth. Obviously doesn’t replace “doing it right” but… not everyone has the luxury of being able to make the same dish twelve times before starting recording for a video.
Seriously. Tobasco is an awesome tool to fix a meal. But to whoever actually loves that stuff, check out some other sauces on your supermarket shelf. They don’t have to be super spicy to be good. I made fun of Cholula in this thread but I also love that on a breakfast sandwich. Not much spicier but a LOT more flavorful and with a consistency that sticks to food rather than just runs off.
*Tabasco