That's Hot!

And No it's not about Paris.


The world's hottest chili pepper

CHANGPOOL, India (AP) ? The farmer, a quiet man with an easy smile, has spent a lifetime eating a chili pepper with a strange name and a 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, very carefully ? with whatever she?s serving.

Around here, in the hills of northeastern India, it?s called the ?bhut jolokia? ? the ?ghost chili.? Anyone who has tried it, they say, could end up an apparition.

?It is so hot you can?t even imagine,? said the farmer, Digonta Saikia, working in his fields in the midday sun, his face nearly invisible behind an enormous straw hat. ?When you eat it, it?s like dying.A chili?s spiciness can be scientifically measured by calculating its content of capsaicin, the chemical that gives a pepper its bite, and counting its Scoville units.

And how hot is the bhut jolokia? As a way of comparison: Classic Tabasco sauce ranges from 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville units. Your basic jalapeno pepper measures anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000. The previous record holder, the Red Savina habanero, was tested at up to 580,000 Scovilles.

The bhut jolokia crushed those contenders, testing at 1,001,304 Scoville units.

What Makes It So Hot?


I don't like spicy food.