of new world's hottest chilli found, the naga viper

Neither Mexico nor India. The world's hottest chilli comes from a tiny greenhouse in Cumbria: Gerald Fowler from Cumbria has created the world's hottest chilli. Dubbed the Naga Viper, it beats the Bhut Jolokia pod, the previous holder, to take the title of the world’s hottest chilli in the Guinness Book of World Records.


Gerald Fowler with his Naga Viper [photo via]

The Naga Viper chilli measures 1,359,000 on the Scoville scale, which measures heat by the presence of the chemical compound capsaicin. The Bhut Jolokia measured 1,001,304. The most popular chilli, Jalapeno, only measured 2,500 to 5,000 on the scale.

The Naga Viper was created by crossing three of the hottest varieties of chilli pods; the Bhut Jolokia, the Naga Morich and the Trinidad Scorpion.


[photo via]

Says Mr Fowler, 52, who runs the Chilli Pepper Company, in Cark-in-Cartmel, near Grange-Over-Sands,

It’s painful to eat. It’s hot enough to strip paint. It numbs your tongue, then burns all the way down. It can last an hour, and you just don’t want to talk to anyone or do anything. But it’s a marvellous endorphin rush. It makes you feel great.