Prometheus Springs Capsaicin Spiced Elixirs are hotness

Every time I’m tasked with making the family’s run to the local Whole Foods, I fall victim to needing to grab myself a snack and drink for the road. It never fails. Occasionally I’ll look for something new to try, like with my last visit. In one of the refrigerated drinks aisles (I think there are three or four areas in my store) I noticed something I hadn’t seen before: Prometheus Springs Capsaicin Spiced Elixir. Wait, capsaicin? As in the stuff that gives hot peppers their searing spiciness? This I had to try.

First of all, the name of these drinks reminds me of something a snake oil peddler from the late 1800s would be shopping around the old West, claiming it had healing and anti-aging properties. Just as you’d imagine, these are definitely spicy drinks, so said snake oil salesman would mystify crowds with how “electrifying” these elixirs were to the soul … and he’d sell cases of the stuff.

Basically there is a drop or so of pure capsaicin extract in each bottle, along with the other organic ingredients that give it flavor. For this taste test I had the Lemon Ginger drink, and the spice matched up just about perfectly with the ginger. What was interesting was that, since capsaicin is orderless and flavorless, it gave the sensation that I was drinking some really, really spicy ginger. However, if there had been enough ginger alone to give the drink that much spice, the ginger flavor would be overpowering. The added capsaicin spice gives it the extra kick without being too gingery.

The spice itself is probably a bit much for anyone who doesn’t like spicy things. I happen to love spicy foods, so I was loving this. I didn’t quite break out into a sweat from sipping away at it, but I bet I would have if I’d downed the whole bottle in a few big gulps. Once I was finished drinking the 16 oz. of drink, the spice lasted in my mouth for about 10-15 minutes. For some that might be too much.

The bottle suggests using the drinks in different ways, such as heating it up to help with a cold or mixing with recipes. I could definitely see something like this being a welcome soother to a head cold, so I’ll have to remember that. The other flavors available — Pomegranate Black Pepper and Lychee Wasabi — sound a bit icky to me, but I might check them out sometime. Something about drinking a bottle of black pepper or wasabi sounds self-abusive to me.

Have you tried the Prometheus Springs drinks out? What did you think?

Clacked by Keith McDuffee
on Aug 18, 2010 @ 13:47 EST5EDT