Spicy Food Lovers Beware - Bhut Jolokia Might Burn You Up!
By Carol Johnson
The Guinness World Records recently confirmed that a professor at New Mexico State University had discovered the world's hottest chili pepper. Paul Bosland, a regents professor in the Chile Pepper Institute at the university, measured a newly discovered chili pepper at 1,001,304 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), which is the unit of measure used to indicate the hotness of a chili pepper.
To compare that reading with more widely known peppers, a New Mexico green chili contains about 1,500 SHU, and a jalapeo pepper measures about 10,000 SHU. Prior to the discovery of Bhut Jolokia, the hottest chilis in the world were the Naga Morich and Dorset Naga, which both measure about 923,000 SHU. All three of these peppers come from the same family of pepper, but they have slight shape and flavor differences. However, the one common trait they share is that they are all blisteringly hot.
In 2001, a member of the Institute who was visiting India collected the seed of the Bhut Jolokia chili pepper and brought it back to Dr. Bosland. It took several years for Bosland and researchers to collect sufficient seeds to conduct field trials, because the plant produced poor fruit and seed set, but Bosland was persistent. Using insect-proof net cages, Bhut Jolokia was grown and seeds were collected and by 2004 there were enough seeds for the test.
An extensive study of the pepper was conducted, to accomplish three goals. Scientists wanted to compare the heat level of Bhut Jolokia with regular habaneros and the Red Savina pepper, to find out whether or not the heat level of Bhut Jolokia was really higher than Red Savina. They also wanted to determine what species designation belonged to Bhut Jolokia. In 2005, the experiments were conducted at a plant science research facility close to Las Cruces, New Mexico.
According to analyzes, the Orange Habanero had an average heat level of 357,729 SHU, which is quite high. But according to Bosland, that reading is in the normal range for these types of peppers in Las Cruces. But the test for Red Savina showed a surprisingly low SHU reading of 248,556 SHU. That reading meant that the Bhut Jolokia, astoundingly, was four times hotter than Red Savina.
Bhut Jolokia is a naturally occurring hybrid plant native to the Assam region of northeastern India. When it was tested at the Assam-based Commercial Chili Growers Frontal Agritech, it measured 1,041,427 SHU. The name "Bhut Jolokia" translates to "ghost chili," according to Bosland. "We're not sure why they call it that," he said, "But I think it's because the chili is so hot, you give up the ghost when you eat it."
Bhut Jolokia belongs to the Capsicum chinense family, along with the more widely known Habanero, Scotch Bonnet, and Red Savina peppers. Seeds of the hottest pepper are known to have migrated to other countries, including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and from there have moved around the World. But the seeds are tricky to germinate and are hard to grow. When the pepper is ripe, it is reddish orange, about 60-85mm long and 25-30mm wide, and resembles a Habanero pepper but with a rough or lumpy skin.
For the truly adventurous gardener, Bhut Jolokia seeds are available from Whatcom Seed Company, The Chili Seed Company, and several other online stores. Because of the pepper's notoriously difficult germination results, many companies also sell special germination solutions to help ensure success.
