World's hottest chile pepper discovered

Fruits of Bhut Jolokia on plants grown in the field at the Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center. Credit: Paul Bosland

Researchers at New Mexico State University recently discovered the world’s hottest chile pepper.

Bhut Jolokia, a variety of chile pepper originating in Assam, India, has earned Guiness World Records’ recognition as the world’s hottest chile pepper by blasting past the previous champion Red Savina. In replicated tests of Scoville heat units (SHUs), Bhut Jolokia reached one million SHUs, almost double the SHUs of Red Savina, which measured a mere 577,000.

Dr. Paul Bosland, Director of the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University’s Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences collected seeds of Bhut Jolokia while visiting India in 2001. Bosland grew Bhut Jolokia plants under insect-proof cages for three years to produce enough seed to complete the required field tests.

“The name Bhut Jolokia translates as ‘ghost chile,’” Bosland said, “I think it’s because the chile is so hot, you give up the ghost when you eat it!” Bosland added that the intense heat concentration of Bhut Jolokia could have significant impact on the food industry as an economical seasoning in packaged foods.

The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS HortScience electronic journal web site: http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/222

Source: American Society for Horticultural Science

» Next Article in General Science - Biology: Predators and parasites may increase evolutionary stability

would you recommend this story?

User Rating

4.3 out of 5 after 35 total votes

not at all
1
2
3
4
5
highly

Leave a Comment or

Flag

Posted by vlam67 10/26/07 20:13

Rank: 1.5/5 after 2 votes

Trust Christopher Columbus to name it chile pepper. Not surprisingly since he thought he discovered Asia. Pepper is pepper, chili is chili, the two has NOTHING in common. Not even the taste!

Flag

Posted by shyataroo 10/26/07 23:44

Not rated yet.

I would like to point out that the Naga Dorset is hotter, at 1,598,227 SHU (scoville heat units)
http://www.bbc.co...46.shtml