Burn, burn, burn, that ring of fire...

[jeffashman]

Some pics other than wildlife. The first is a Bhut Jolokia pepper (aka Ghost Pepper). Those suckers are hot. 1,000,000+ on the scoville scale. We also eat Carolina Reapers, although we don't grow them. The second pic is a large Silky Rosegill mushroom I found at the Fort Worth Nature Center.
BhutJolokia2021071501 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr
LargeSilkyRosegill20210701 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

I picked up some jalapenos at the grocery last week ( ours are still too small ) and the fellow bagging them said he likes the ghost peppers. Too hot for this old fellow whose stomach gets more and more finicky as the years go by
As for the mushroom, the owner of a company I worked for in OKC many years ago shared a story with me concerning this experience with mushrooms: He watched his Vietnamese/American neighbors gather little white ones from their yard and since he also had these, he thought he'd try some in a dish. Short story is his son was told to have last rites given to him by the hospital chaplain as apparently, his neighbors were not eating them! Maybe their enemies, but not them

 

[jeffashman]

I picked up some jalapenos at the grocery last week ( ours are still too small ) and the fellow bagging them said he likes the ghost peppers. Too hot for this old fellow whose stomach gets more and more finicky as the years go by
As for the mushroom, the owner of a company I worked for in OKC many years ago shared a story with me concerning this experience with mushrooms: He watched his Vietnamese/American neighbors gather little white ones from their yard and since he also had these, he thought he'd try some in a dish. Short story is his son was told to have last rites given to him by the hospital chaplain as apparently, his neighbors were not eating them! Maybe their enemies, but not them

Yeah, mushrooms are one thing I won't pick in the wild; too big of a chance of picking the wrong one... ☠️

 

[Warhorse]

When I lived in the tip of the lower peninsula of MI, I loved to go hunting Morels in the spring. Very tasty sautéed in butter and garlic.

 

[Jeff G]

@jeffashman I'll have you know I can't get Jonny Cash out of my head now , thank you! 🤣

I've got a friend who stops at Ghost peppers, I stop at Jalapenos. 🥵

 

[jeffashman]

When I lived in the tip of the lower peninsula of MI, I loved to go hunting Morels in the spring. Very tasty sautéed in butter and garlic.

I guess if you collected them and just threw them in a basket, you had loose Morels?

 

[jeffashman]

Here's another one of the Bhut Jolokia. I took it with my "new" Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 EX DC OS lens that I purchased to replace the kit Canon 18-55mm EF-S lens. I'm going to have to practice with this one, because the images were coming out exceedingly bright at f/2.8 1/1250 ISO 200. It wa auto-ISO, so maybe I need to manually set it to 100. I processed it to darken the image a bit, because it was really washed out. By "new" I mean that I patronized the TPF sponsor, mpb.com. May never buy a new new lens again. We'll see.
BhutJolokia2021071701 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr
Any tips on using an aperture at f/2.8 would be appreciated. Trying to go for a sharp image with decent bokeh in the bg.

 

[Warhorse]

I know what you mean about not purchasing new, I have bought a couple lens from KEH, and factory refurbished lens and a camera from Nikon refurbished.

 

[K9Kirk]

Nice set, Jeff. I've never eaten a ghost pepper and I don't care to. I like heat but that's a bit much for me, I like heat but with some flavor. I do put a ghost pepper sauce on things, "Elijah's Xtreme", but it's been diluted with habaneros, roasted garlic, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, onion, soy bean oil, carrot, lime and passion fruit. (kinda funny, it took hot habaneros to cool the ghost pepper, lol!) It does give the Scoville units but it does give a 4 flames out of 5 so it's up there a little. Good stuff.

 

[jeffashman]

We don't eat them straight up, but either as flakes on a dish, or in a sauce; ghost peppers actually provide a good smoky flavor along with the intense heat. My son makes an apricot ghost pepper salsa that is very good, especially on shredded brisket. He had a jar out on the table one day for his daughter's birthday (for the adults), but with no sign on it. One of my wife's friends, who was 8 month pregnant, grabbed a tortilla chip and dipped it in the jar like it was Pace, and I thought for sure she was going to offload the kiddo right there on the dining area floor.

 

[Susan Will]

We don't eat them straight up, but either as flakes on a dish, or in a sauce; ghost peppers actually provide a good smoky flavor along with the intense heat. My son makes an apricot ghost pepper salsa that is very good, especially on shredded brisket. He had a jar out on the table one day for his daughter's birthday (for the adults), but with no sign on it. One of my wife's friends, who was 8 month pregnant, grabbed a tortilla chip and dipped it in the jar like it was Pace, and I thought for sure she was going to offload the kiddo right there on the dining area floor.

Wow Jeff this story was good till the very end your wording is so very funny. My husband has plant on of these peppers so we will see how far he will go with them, I am not willing to try it to hot for me!

 

[weepete]

What metering mode are you using Jeff?

The way I thing about using auto ISO is that your metering mode controls the exposure. For this kind of shot I'd tend towards CWA, or but if the backlighting was strong partial mode can be better.

It's not a bad thing to be exposing to the right, because the light tones store more data. As long as you don't blow out an RGB channel, then bringing down the exposure in post should be fine.

 

[jeffashman]

Wow Jeff this story was good till the very end your wording is so very funny. My husband has plant on of these peppers so we will see how far he will go with them, I am not willing to try it to hot for me!

Thanks! Even in tiny amounts you can taste the flavor of the pepper, and experience the heat.

 

[jeffashman]

What metering mode are you using Jeff?

The way I thing about using auto ISO is that your metering mode controls the exposure. For this kind of shot I'd tend towards CWA, or but if the backlighting was strong partial mode can be better.

It's not a bad thing to be exposing to the right, because the light tones store more data. As long as you don't blow out an RGB channel, then bringing down the exposure in post should be fine.

I have it set to evaluative metering. I'll give the CWA a try to see what that produces. Thanks!