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Farmer Digonta Saikia holds a bhut jolokia |
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The
farmer, a quiet man with an easy smile, has spent a
lifetime
eating a chilli with a strange name and vicious bite.
His mother stirred them into sauces. His wife puts them out for dinner
- raw, blood-red morsels of pain to be nibbled, carefully - with
whatever she is serving.
In the hills of north-eastern India (Assam), it is called the bhut
jolokia, or ghost chilli. Anyone who tries it, they say, could end up
an apparition.
"It is so hot you can't even imagine," says Digonta Saikia, working in his fields in the midday sun. "When you eat it, it's like dying." Outsiders, he insists, should not even try it. "If you eat one," he tells a visitor, "you will not be able to leave this place."  For
this remote region, facing bloody insurgencies, widespread poverty and
with its major industry, tea farming, in deep decline, hope has come in
the form of the thumb-sized chilli with frightening potency. Guinness
World Records rated it the spiciest in the world prior to 2011.
If you think you've had a hotter chilli, you are probably wrong.
The smallest morsels of a bhut jolokia can flavour a sauce so intensely
it is barely edible. Eating a raw sliver causes watering eyes and a
runny nose. An entire chilli is a savage assault on the senses.
For generations, though, the bhut jolokia has been loved in India's
north-east, eaten as a spice, a cure for stomach troubles and,
seemingly paradoxically, a way to fight the crippling summer heat.
Now, with scientific proof that the chilli has more than 1 million Scoville units - the scientific measurement of a chilli's spiciness - that thrust the bhut jolokia into the record books, north-east India is taking its chilli to the world. Exporters are courting the international community of rabid chilli-lovers, a group that has traded stories for years about a mysterious, powerful Indian chilli. Farmers, too, are planting new fields of bhut jolokias, and government officials are talking about development programs. Chances are no one will get rich. In a region where good news is a rarity, however, the world record status has meant a lot of pride and a little more business. "It has got tremendous potential," says Leena Saikia, managing director of Frontal AgriTech, a food business in the north-eastern state of Assam that has been in the forefront of exports.  The
colour change of the bhut jolokia during ripeningThe bhut jolokia cut open. Note the three-chamber contruction. Both the mesocarp and the divider walls are rather thin. This eases drying the pepper.  The Bhut Jolokia is a capsicum chinense cultivar and has measured a maximum of 1,001,300 SHU's on the Scoville Scale |
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Article courtesy
of Tim Sullivan (The
Age)
| The Trinidad Scorpion |
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The Trinidad (Moruga) Scorpion was classified as the hottest pepper in the World in 2011. Trinidad is a large Island in the Caribbean northeast of Venezuela. The people of Trinidad love cooking with hot chilis. The Trinidad Scorpion though is not usually found in markets. In fact it is so hot many locals never use it for cooking. It's primary use is for military grade mace. It is also used in marine paint to keep barnacles from growing on the bottoms of boats. But the Trinidad Scorpion is still a favorite of chili heads around the world. Not just because it has more heat than a Bhut Jolokia, but it also has a great flavour as well. Just keep in mind you only need a small amount in whatever you cook. The Trinidad (Moruga) Scorpion is a capsicum
chinense cultivar and has measured a maximum of 1,463,700
SHU's on the Scoville Scale
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| The Carolina Reaper |
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The Carolina Reaper is a hybrid cultivar bred by Ed Currie who runs PuckerButt Pepper Company in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The Reaper was rated as the world's hottest chili pepper by Guinness World Records according to 2012 tests. This bumpy, oily, fire-engine red fruit with a punch of heat nearly as potent as most pepper sprays used by police is hot enough to leave even the most seasoned spicy food aficionado crimson-faced, flushed with sweat, trying not to lose his lunch. The Carolina Reaper is a capsicum
chinense cultivar and has measured an average of 1,569,300
SHU's on the Scoville Scale
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| The Mutant Pepper X |
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Mutant Pepper X is a cultivar of Capsicum chili pepper bred by Ed
Currie, creator of the Carolina Reaper. Pepper X resulted from several cross
breedings that produced an exceptionally high content of capsaicin in the
locules of the pepper. The exceptional pungency of the chili was developed over
10 years of cultivation. The Mutant Pepper X is a capsicum
chinense cultivar and has measured an average of 3,180,000
SHU's on the Scoville Scale
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