Denmark recalls Korean ramen for being too spicy

schizoidman@lemmy.ml to Not The Onion@lemmy.world – 417 points –
Samyang: Denmark recalls Korean ramen for being too spicy
bbc.com
73

I would so use that in their next marketing campaign. The slogan writes itself!

"Outlawed in [Denmark|in some countries] for being too spicy!"

I've had this stuff before. It's comparable in spice level to what you'd get from a good Indian or Thai restaurant if the staff actually believe you when you say you want extra-spicy.

The sauce packet itself contains "decolorized chili extract", which is better known as oleoresin capsicum in some non-food products. Eating the sauce without mixing it into the soup as intended would be unpleasant for almost anyone, but only dangerous to people with allergies or certain pre-existing life-threatening health conditions.

Man I ordered a pack of curry ramen from these guys cause I was craving curry and needed to hit a cart minimum for a discount and was like sure why not. The not reasoning was the fire from both ends. It took my stomach a couple days to recover because I just scarfed it down despite the pain

I bought 3 packs hopefully it’s like the other recalled or banned stuff and actually good spice.

Having had all 3 of those before, they're definitely not "tasty spicy" or "fun spicy" any more, but unless you drink them on an empty stomach and try to wash them down with beer only, they were perfectly fine.

Always got some of the 2x spicy here for when I have a cold, best way to clear your nose. 🙈

I like the spicy (black packet) and 2x spicy (red packet), it definitely has flavour to me! The 3x is closer to painful spicy though. Tongue's are just different.

Also I would not recommend any of these to people with geographic tongues. They will hurt no matter what level you get.

What part of the label didn't make it obvious that it's not for filthy casuals?

Who fucking told the international press!? This is so embarassing.

Don't worry bruv, we got plenty of Buldak over here in Flensburg. We also have cheap beer. Flensburg's entire economy is propped up on Danske penge, so please come over.

4 more...

I've had the 2× spicy. Honnestly the reason they should be recalled is for their quantity of salt. My mouth was burning more because of that than the spiciness.

As someone who regularly eats 2x Spicy, the 3x Spicy version definitely hits harder but I prefer the taste of 2x Spicy

Agreed. As a person who eats all of the spiciest hot ones sauces, I actually prefer the 1x spicy’s flavor!

Me I feel like I've served my term, I raised and ate reaper peppers one year, and yeah they were spicy but they weren't good. I can make much better sauces and such given peppers in the 10,000 to 100,000 scoville range.

Yeah agreed. I'm way past the "so hot you can't taste it anymore" phase. I still love a good hot sauce, but at this point what I'm most interested in is just the flavor.

Agreed, most of the super hots aren't actually very good tasting at all and you'd be better off sticking with a cayenne, hot Thai, or maybe a Red Savina. I have grown and had tons of super hots over the years and the only ones I actually likes were the Chocolate 7-Pots and Trinidad Moruga Scorpions. Even then, I would usually not use them in cooking as they just overpower everything with heat.

Their Last Dab is the tastiest super spicy one in my opinion, very curry-ey. It’s not as spicy as some “less spicy” sauces, which was interesting to me. But most of the SUPER hot sauces are only okay, I agree.

I have yet to try the Last Dab sauce as it is overpriced IMO. Your description of it does make me more interested though.

It’s worth it. I’d say it’s priced okay. I’d pay 10-15USD for it cuz I don’t use it as quickly as other sauces. I DO put a lot into my Tikka Masala when I make it though!

When I last checked it was $40 for a bottle. $10-$15 is absolutely fine. I clearly need to look harder for a good price.

JEEEEEZ yeah absolutely not for that price! I haven’t checked Heatonist lately but it was definitely under 20 when I got it last!

Habaneros can bring a nice flavor, but if they're the primary note in a dish it's too much. You need some sweet and some tangy in with them.

My partner and I put habaneros in the dill pickles we make and they work AMAZINGLY for that!

habanero dill pickles. I may have to try that if I get enough cukes this season. I didn't plant any habaneros this year though.

Could not recommend more! They’re absolutely delicious and not overly-spicy.

Oh man, i'm absolutely trying that this weekend.

Oh it’s perfect! We slice them into circles and leave the seeds in, the pickles turn out perfectly spicy. I’m sure yours will turn out amazing!

Thanks.

I'm glad I ran into you on the Internet today.

Likewise! We’re making some more this weekend. Once ya make your own pickles, store-bought just doesn’t hit right anymore. Combining jalapeño and habanero circles also tastes awesome. I’m sure everyone does this, but we also put in 4-6 slightly maimed cloves of garlic.

Buldak don't fuck around with heat. I've had the 2x, and a pretty decent tolerance to spiciness, and it was hotter than my comfort zone.

To an extent, heat boosts flavor; but passed that, it's just heat for the sake of heat.

...not that that justifies a recall, but they ARE hot as fuck.

Though funny, overly spicy food has killed people. There's a difference between adding spice to your product and just dumping in a bottle of pepper spray. Spice is like caffeine. There really should be a limit to how much can be loaded into a product before it needs a genuine warning label.

Let me start off by saying I do not disagree. Even without death it can cause nasty stomach pains (not ulcers, though, that myth was dispelled) and cause severe irritation on the way out. In addition, a LOT of folks have undiagnosed conditions. I'm just adding perspective. I see no issue with adding a warning to products seasoned with peppers in the 800k+ range the same way you'd add one for a roller coaster because it absolutely can kill you if you have a medical condition and I'm not so sure that people realize that.

For spicy food to kill an average healthy person, you'd have to consume a few pounds of super hot peppers to get that sweet infarction. Ghost peppers come in around 1,000,000 scoville units and the one chip challenge is seasoned with vipers and reapers which come in under 2m (there's no official scoville rating that I could find on the chip itself). Some of the nastier sauces (Pure Evil and Plutonium No. 9) come in between 10m and 13m and those are eaten by heat aficionados and idiots looking to prove something with no more ill effects than shitting yourself inside out and pouring milk on your brown eye to relieve the burning.

The story about that kid is absolutely tragic. He was 14 with cardiomegaly and myocardial bridging of the left anterior descending coronary artery (enlarged heart and a congenital defect). I don't know if he was previously diagnosed (that's a whole discussion about our healthcare system in the US) but eating a chip like that at 14 with other conditions is a health decision. He didn't know the risks because there was no health warning and possibly he didn't know about his condition.

These noodles have been around in Korea for a while, and I've been able to get them in Walmarts in Canada for years.

They even have a 10x spice flavour.

I don't think anybody has died from eating these noodles.

10x sounds well past the point of being enjoyable. I'll have to pick some up and check...

Even the 2x is rough for me, and I can handle spice pretty well.

10x is deep in the "challenge" category, I think...haha

filthy casuals...

Anyway korean homestay students used to stock up on these and leave them behind when they went home. it's a pretty decent instant noodle, fairly recommended

The 3x is legit. It's not like these "one shot" challenges where you can just get it over with and then suffer for a bit. It's a whole fucking bowl of ramen. Like 30 bites worth of pain and then when you are done your entire stomach is filled with it and you have to carry it around all day.

I'm kinda curious now what the multiplier is based on, someone's perception or just multiplied ingredients, or measurable unit.

They have a regular spicy ramen, which is more spicy than what most people can take, and then there's 2x, double the amount of chilly from the regular one. And the 3x you can guess what it is.

I've had the 2x before and it's uncomfortably hot but my criticism is that the overall taste of this brand of ramen is not that great.

I'm not sure I trust Denmark judgement on spicy measurement. Picked up a bottle of red pepper seasoning that was marked extra spicy in Thyboron and we laughed our asses off how bland it was.

I'm so pale, that I'm almost translucent. That pepper would probably have killed me! But then again, it was Thyborøn.

Not my regular driver when it comes to noodles but I do like those on occasion. Clears the sinuses and sometimes the bowels.

In Korea, this particular product is advertised as "mild spice for very young children." /s

Pity the Dane who vacations to the US and tries one of those bottles of, like, Voltaire’s Furious Anal Cavity Sundering Sauce that’s at every farm stand and gift shop

They may have a death wish anyway, if they visit that country.

I laugh, but my tolerance for spicy food took a nosedive. Not sure if its tangential to my health issues in the past or just living in rural Iowa, where the "mexican" food is made explicitly for white people.

Casual Denmark L. Tragic.

Buldak is delicious, add some rice and tunamayo to the leftover sauce after you finish the noodles and you have something great too.

I had 2 x spicy once, although I've been warned by the shop owner herself. That was definitely way too hot for me.

Not sure, if a recall is justified though.

I like the 2x spicy one, but i've never tried the 3x spicy one before

I've had the 2x one and it was definitely spicy. As hot as some of my best hot sauces. It was definitely tough to eat a whole bowl but it was do-able.

Didn't know they made even spicier version. Will have to try.

Oh man, if they believe that is harmful enough to warrant a recall, why haven't they banned alcohol? It is orders of magnitude more poisonous and damaging.

You would think people who smoke weed would have tried this argument.

And it is a valid argument, problem is that alcohol is so ingrained within human culture that everyone gives it a free pass.

Denmark doesn't know how to spice food so it tracks.

To be honest, garlic is the closest in my kitchen to being spicy.

I'm Russian and Russian food is like that too. We don't natively mess with spice at all.