We have this Irish bar in town where they serve chicken wings covered in a sauce made from the Ghost Pepper, also known as the Bhut Jolokia. It’s the world’s hottest, so when you order these, you have to sign a waiver saying that you won’t, like, sue the place if something goes wrong. Really. So my friend tried them and within the first bite was running to the washroom in shock, where a waiter was already waiting with lots of milk. Once the pain died down a couple minutes later, he apologized for his reaction, at which point he was informed that he shouldn’t worry. Not only was this very normal, but many people actually vomit right at the table within the first bite. So, my friend’s reaction wasn’t that bad.

Keep this little anecdote in mind when you order Timmy’s Great Balls Of Fire. There’s Ghost Pepper powder inside. And they’re also coated with it. They are rated at over 1 million Scoville units. To put things in perspective, a Tabasco pepper (used in the sauce of the same name) rates around 30,000 to 50,000 Scoville units. And police grade perpperspray starts around 2 million, so these candies are getting close.

It’s $8 for 30 of them. Have fun. Carefully.

[ Product Page ]

By David Ponce

Sure to please any geek worth his salt, these Space Invaders chocolates have had a lot of effort put into their manufacture. There’s an entire section dedicated to this (which is in the links below, but impossible to link to directly, so just scroll down a little), but you should know that there’s 3D CAD, a CNC machine and thing called a “granite melangeur” involved. The Costa Rican beans are hand sorted and the finished product is packed in a limited edition, laser engraved gift box, along with a postcard, a sticker and a mini poster. All this hard work obviously translates into quite a bit for what you’ll essentially just melt in your mouth: $25.

There’s talk that the recipe and cad file will be released at some point so you can try your hand at tempering (read: not such an easy process) your own Space Invaders chocolates.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ BoingBoing ]

By David Ponce

Fatty, salty and unbelievably delicious, McNuggets remain incomplete; what they have in flavor, they lack in being made out of gold. You can get one step closer to fixing that flaw with these cans of sprayable, edible food coloring. They’re called Food Finish and are allegedly safe and completely tasteless. So for € 24,80 (or about $35USD as of this writing) you can have that chrome plated steak you’ve always wanted, or those… blue french fries. Heck, even those red pancakes are within grasp.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Slashgear ]

It turns out I can scratch ‘Invent a snack that will be the end of mankind’ off my bucket list. Because a company called Rowan Lane has beaten me to it. As a product name, Cherkees doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue like, say, Ruffles or Doritos. But it makes up for that marketing shortcoming by being possibly one of the most amazing snacks man has ever created. Regular beef jerky isn’t the easiest thing to snack on outside of a survival situation. And beef jerky flavored chips never taste as authentic as the real thing. So in a move that would probably baffle even Einstein, they pushed mother nature aside, threw caution to the wind, and combined the two together.

Each bag of Cherkees contains over a quarter pound of lean beef combined with traditional potato chips. And since they’re not fried, they have about 1/3 as much fat as your typical bag of chips. With loads more protein. At the moment they come in two flavors—Cracked Pepper and Hot Pepper—with Teriyaki and Smokehouse being available sometime in the future. And even though they’re a bit more expensive than a traditional bag of chips—$4.99 for 2.8 oz. and $9.99 for 5.8 oz.— they’re still currently sold out due to the demand.

[ Cherkees ] VIA [ Werd ]

I’m not sure what sparked the recent trend of novelty-shaped ice cube trays. I’m assuming some breakthrough in silicone mould production which makes them easier to mass manufacture. Whatever the reason, it looks like Porsche Design has jumped on the bandwagon too with this simple blue ice cube tray that produces frozen miniature versions of their 911, Cayman, Cayenne and Panamera. It also features the Porsche logo, is dishwasher safe and is available from their online store for just $19.

[ Porsche Design Ice Cube Tray ] VIA [ NOTCOT ]

For those times when the talent’s being difficult, you keep blowing fuses on set, or Photoshop’s being a pain in the butt; the Photojojo Store now has a Shot Glass Lens Set to help get you through it. Modeled after a real Canon EF 24-105mm lens, the shot glasses are “…perfect in every detail, from the teeny raised numbers to the focus-ring ridges to the wee auto/manual focus switch. They’re nice and heavy, too: sturdy ceramic that feels solid in your hand.” Get ‘em in a set of 3 for $18 and you’ll ensure in the future you’ll never miss another ‘shot.’

[ Shot Glass Lens Set ] VIA [ Coudal Partners ]

If you frequent a vending machine at work or school you’ve probably learned to silence that little voice inside telling you there are far healthier snacking alternatives. But at the same time, there’s nothing more boring than a vending machine filled with fresh fruits and vegetables. So a San Diego-based vending company has come up with a nice compromise. Their ‘Fresh Healthy Vending’ machines are still packed with snacks like cookies, chips, crackers and juices, but they’re all from companies who use organic or all-natural ingredients. In other words, they provide a far healthier way to deal with the munchies.

The machines can be packed with snacks from over 500 recognized brands, which tend to lean towards items like granola bars, smoothies, yogurts, etc. instead of chocolate bars and candy. They’re also a bit on the high-tech side, with dual zone climates for keeping dairy based products fresh, payment systems that accept credit and debit cards in addition to coins and bills, and even remote wireless monitoring of stock and sales. Since organic and other healthier snacks tend to cost more than your typical vending machine fare, I think the Fresh machines face some tough competition from their incumbent rivals. But maybe snacking guilt will give them a big advantage.

[ Fresh Healthy Vending Machines ] VIA [ PSFK ]

Well, I’ve found the source of my nightmares for the next 3 weeks, and it comes in the form of Jell-O’s latest advertising campaign. It started out with a website featuring a giant face that frowns or smiles based on the general mood on Twitter; a larger percentage of smiley faces being tweeted results in a smile, while a larger percentage of frowns results in – you guessed it – a frown!

But the campaign is being taken to a whole new level with the recent installation of a billboard in Manhattan that features an even larger, mechanical 3D version of the face that physically smiles or frowns based on Twitter’s mood. I’m happy I don’t work in an office overlooking the ad, because even when smiling it sends shivers down my spine. So thank you Crispin Porter + Bogusky, I’ll never eat pudding the same way again!

[ Jell-O Pudding Face ] VIA [ PSFK ]

Sure they might be convenient, but did you know that white plastic disposable fork you got with your takeout that claims to be ‘biodegradable’ can still take 6+ months to decompose in a landfill? Granted it doesn’t make them any less convenient, but it does make these EcoTensils seem like a better alternative. At least for softer fast foods that are eaten with a spoon. The EcoSpoon, a larger version of the EcoTaster Mini demo’d in the photos above, is made from renewable paperboard with a waterproof finish like you’d find on a milk carton.

They start off life as a pre-cut, flat piece of paper (which are easier to ship and store than plastic spoons) but with a little folding and a couple of sticky spots, they easily become a usable spoon. And when they’re done being used they can be recycled or disposed of, since they’ll decompose in as little as 3 weeks. Interestingly enough, because they’re so flexible, they’re also a useful alternative for prisons since they make for poor shivs.

The EcoSpoons are available in cartons of 5,000 units for $199.95, while the smaller EcoTaster Minis, which are ideal for free samples, run $94.95 for the same quantity.

[ EcoTensils ] VIA [ Motley Food & Cool Hunting ]

From what I gather, the juicing machines made by Austrian-based Citrocasa are some of the finest in the world. At least if you’re a restauranteur, or have a large enough food business to turn a profit on them. But freshly squeezed orange juice is a right, not a privelege, so the company has recently created the Fantastic – a far more compact version of their juicers that can be purchased for home use, or any smaller scale needs. (Though at 121 lbs, it will still dwarf your coffee maker.)

What sets the Citrocasa juicers apart from other machines, or my method of just mashing up some oranges in a pillow case with a hammer, is that it can process 30 oranges per minute. Or cut and thoroughly squeeze one every 2 seconds. That’s impressive! It also has what they call an “SCS Up & Down cutting system” which basically means it cuts the oranges cleanly in half so that none of the bitter skin or rind gets into the juice when they’re squeezed. And the machine has been built to be easily disassembled so that cleaning it is a breeze. Pricing and availability info are still TBA.

[ Citrocasa Fantastic ] VIA [ Cool Hunting ]