Oct 27 2007
BREAKING! Hottest chile pepper shatters record
Ok, well this is news to me at least, being one who loves foods that inflict pain on the way in and out. From LiveScience:
Researchers at New Mexico State University have discovered the world’s hottest chili pepper. It’s called the Bhut Jolokia, a variety originating in Assam, India.
In tests that yield Scoville heat units (SHUs), the Bhut Jolokia reached 1 million SHUs, almost double the SHUs of former hotshot Red Savina (a type of habanero pepper), which measured a mere 577,000. The result was announced today by the American Society for Horticultural Science.
I might have actually had these once. They look like a pepper called a Paper Lantern Pepper, I’m not sure if it’s the same thing.I’m going to have a small garden next year, I’ll try these out and let you know how painful they are.
Also, if your’e a hot foods junkie, be sure to look at The Hot Zone Online for lots of good stuff. And bring plenty of toilet paper.
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Did you know it’s also medicine?
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/10/29/peppers.pain.ap/index.html
Oh, yes… There are several analgesic creams I’ve used that contain capsicum. I also think it has an antibacterial effect to an extent, although I’m not positive on that one.
JD they call them the "Ghost" pepper over there. Its from this remote mountainous region. They believe if you eat the pepper you’ll become or see apparitions I don’t remember which.
Red Savinas were the worlds hottest at 350-500,000 scoville units. These ghost peppers are an unbelievable million scoville units. I think there was an article about them in the Free Press a couple months ago.
I love hot, used to grow my own hydroponic habaneros. I don’t know if I even want to try these. They won’t let newcomers eat a whole pepper at first. They build up with minute little doses.