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The World’s Hottest Chilli
The smallest amount of Bhut Jolokia can flavour a sauce so intensely
it’s barely edible. Taking a small bite will cause
watering eyes and a runny nose.
  The
world’s hottest chilli is the Bhut Jolokia also known as
Bih Jolokia originating in Assam in North East India.
It is the Guinness World Book Record Holder with an
official Scoville heat rating (SHU) of
1,001,304
SHU twice that of the previous record holder, the Red
Savina.
A SHU stands for Scoville Heat Unit and is the amount of
water needed before the chilli heat is undetectable. One
drop of the Bhut Jolokia extract needs a million drops
of water.
The Bhut Jolokia chilli has been highly treasured in
Assam for centuries but was unknown in the West. Seven
years ago a scientist, R.K.R Singh, working at the Indian
government’s Defence Research Laboratory in Tezpur in
Assam, decided to look at this locally prized chilli and
sent samples of the Bhut Jolokia for analysis. The
amazing results were submitted to a scientific journal
and aroused the interest of The Chile Pepper Institute
(CPI) at New Mexico State University.
Very shortly after, in
2001, the Institute received seed of the Bhut Jolokia
from a member who had collected it while visiting India.
Dr Paul Bosland of the CPI grew the Bhut Jolokia from
seed in the desert climate of Southern New Mexico and
confirmed its incredible heat, culminating in the
Guinness World Book Record Award for the hottest chilli
in the world. The
analysis revealed that it possessed an extremely high
heat level indeed, a whopping 1,001,304 Scoville Heat
Units.
Further corroboration of the heat level came from
Frontal Agritech in Assam who had their locally grown
Bhut Jolokia chillies HPLC-tested and reported a value
of 1,041,427 Scoville Heat Units, giving two independent
results for Bhut Jolokia with no significant variation
between them.
The sole exporter of the Bhut Jolokia from Assam is
Frontal Agritech. In Assam this deadly hot chilli is
treated with immense respect. At Frontal Agritech,
employees wear goggles, face masks, head covers and
protective clothing to deal with the chillies. Ananta
Saikia, the owner of Frontal Agritech Ltd has been
quoted as saying that one chilli can last his family for
a week.
The raw chilli has a strong but pleasant fresh vegetable
smell. Cooked in a curry it imparts perfume-like
sweetness to all the other ingredients in addition to a
fiery heat. Dried, the chilli changes character again
with a further intensification of taste and aroma.
We offer Bhut Jolokia seeds direct from The Chile Pepper
Institute and are proud to of been the first and still
the best supplier of
Bhut Jolokia seeds direct from Frontal Agritech, who are
in turn the only exporter from Assam.
This is truly a unique chilli and seeds are scarce, and
seeds with proven provenance are even scarcer still.
Our seeds come from certificated and heat tested stock. |
helping
you get the most from your plants
