| Variety = Scoville Units
Pure Capsaicin 15,000,000 - 16, 000,000
US Police Pepper Spray 5,000,000
Dorset Naga Pepper 923,000
Red Savina Pepper 350,000 - 580,000
Scotch Bonnet 100,000 - 325,000
Jamaican Hot Pepper 100,000 - 200,000
Rocoto Pepper 50,000 - 100,000
Pequin Pepper 75.000
Super Chilli Pepper 40,000 - 50,000
Cayenne Pepper 30,000 - 50,000
Tabasco Pepper 30,000 - 50,000
de Arbol Pepper 15,000 - 30,000
Aji Pepper 12,000 - 30,000
Serrano pepper 5,000 - 23,000
Hot Wax Pepper 5,000 - 10,000
Chipotle 5,000 - 10,000
Jalapeno Pepper 2,500 - 8,000
Guajilla Pepper 2,500 - 5,000
Tabasco Sauce 2,500
Pasilla Pepper 1,000 - 2,000
Ancho Pepper 1,000 - 2,000
Anaheim Pepper 500 - 2,500
Nu Mex Pepper 500 - 1,000
Santa Fe Grande Pepper 500 - 700
Pimento Pepper 100 - 500
Bell Pepper 0
Now then, The Dorset Naga read on:
The Times Newspaper article 01/04/2006: The world’s hottest chilli pepper does not come from a tropical hot spot where the local’s are impervious to it’s fiery heat but a smallholding in deepest Dorset, Uk. Some chilli’s are fierce enough to make your eyes water. Anyone foolhardy enough to eat a whole Dorset Naga would almost certainly require hospital treatment. The pepper, almost twice as hot as the previous record holder, was grown by Joy and Michael Michaud in a polytunnel at their market garden. The couple run a business called Peppers by Post and spent four years developing the Dorset Naga. They knew the 2cm-long specimens were hot because they had to wear gloves and remove the seeds outdoors when preparing them for drying, but had no idea they had grown a record breaker. Some customers complained the peppers were so fiery that even half a small one would make a curry too hot to eat. Others loved them and last year the Michauds sold a quarter of a million of them. At the end of the season they sent a sample to a Lab in America out of curiosity. They were stunned when the Dorset Naga gave a reading of nearly 900,000SHU. A fresh sample was then sent to a lab in New York used by the American Spice Trade Association and they recorded a record mouth numbing 923,000SHU’s. Mrs Michaud said ‘The man in the first lab was so excited he’d never had one half as hot as that. The second lab took a long time because they were checking it carefully as it was so outrageously high. The Dorset Naga was grown from a plant that originated in Bangladesh. The Michauds bought their original plant in an oriental store in Bournemouth, UK ‘we were’t even selecting the peppers for hotness but for shape and flavour when the test results came back we were gob smacked’
The couple are now seeking Plant Variety Protection DEFRA which will mean that no one else can sell the seeds.
Anyone wanting to try the chillis will have to be patient as they are harvested only from July on. In Bangladesh the chillis grow in temperatures of well over 100F (38C) but in Dorset they thrive in poly tunnels. Aktar Miha from the Indus Bangladesh restaurant in Bournemouth said that even in it’s home country it is treated with respect. ‘It is used in some cooking mainly in Fish curry’s but most people don’t cook with it . They hold it by the stalk and just touch their food with it ‘ he said. It has a refreshing smell and a very good taste but you don’t want to much of it. It is a killer chilli and you have to be careful and wash your hands and the cutting board. If you don’t know what you are doing it could blow your head off.  |