Spice Up Your Life In India

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Las Cruces, New Mexico: The Guinness Book of Records confirms India's Bhut Jolokia chilli as the world's hottest pepper. Bhut Jolokia will come at 1,001,304 Scoville heat units, a measure of hotness for a chilli. It is double as hot as Red Savina, the variety it replaces as the hottest. The Guinness Book of Records agreed, recently that Bosland had discovered the world's hottest chilli pepper.

The Bhut Jolokia naturally grows at of Assam region. A member of the university's Chile Pepper Institute who was visiting India sent Bhut Jolokia seeds to New Mexico for testing in 2001. The plant did not produce fruit easily, so it took a some years to get enough for field-testing.

Bosland grew Bhut Jolokia, Red Savina and Habanero peppers under controlled settings and found that Bhut Jolokia had significantly higher Scoville ratings. Two independent laboratories confirmed those findings.

The Bhut Jolokia variety has potential as a food additive in the packaged food industry, Bosland says. It could be pickled while green, dehydrated and used as seasoning. Because the heat is so concentrated, food manufacturers would save money because they would use less.

The pepper's name translates as ghost chilli, Bosland says.

''We're not sure why they call it that, but I think it's because the chilli is so hot, you give up the ghost when you eat it,'' he added.