Bhut Jolokia

The bhut Jolokia pepper is a native of the state of Assam in India.

It is also commonly found in northern India (Nagaland, Manipur), Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

It was late 2006 that the Guinness Book of Records confirmed that New Mexico State University Regent's Professor Paul Bosland had discovered the world's hottest chili - bhut Jolokia The.

The bhut Jolokia at 1,001,304 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), is almost twice as hot as Red Savina Habanero, the variety of pepper was replaced as the world's hottest.

A new standard green chili contains about 1,500 Mexican shus and an average jalapeno measures at about 10,000 shus, then we are dealing with some serious heat here

There were some heated (no pun intended) discussion about whether its type is that of a Capsicum frutescens or a Capsicum chinense. Recent DNA tests have shown that this is an interspecific hybrid, but mainly chinense frutescens genes.

The bhut Jolokia (ghost or Poison effect) has many other names - such as:

Chilli Pepper Ghost Ghost or

Naga Naga Jolokia or Naga Morich or Moresh (Bangladesh) (Naga meaning cobra in Sanskrit - which comes from Nagaland and Naga Community)

Miris Nai (Sri Lanka)

Bih Jolokia (in the Indian state of Assam)

Oo-Morok (Manipur) (Oo sense Tree Morok sense Chilli)

Borbih Jolokia

Nagahara

Raja Mirchi (chilli king)

Dorset Naga (species grown in the county of Dorset, United Kingdom)

Whatever the name they all refer to the same chilli and plants and are used interchangeably - if you prefer to use!

One thing you can be sure of is that pepper this fascinating in all shapes and sizes is sure to be with us for some time to come.