Move Over Bhut Jolokia

barkeater · February 22, 2011

UK: 'Record-breaking' chilli is hot news

Experts have pronounced a chilli grown in the market town of Grantham, Lincs, as the hottest in the world. Tests have revealed the "Infinity Chilli" to have a Scoville Scale Rating of 1,176,182 - hotter than chilli reportedly used in hand grenades by the Indian military. But what is the attraction of this insanely hot ingredient? The story of the world's hottest chilli begins not in Mexico or Bangladesh, but next to the barbed wire at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland. Nick Woods, working shifts as an RAF security guard and considering his growing family, decided he had to do something more entrepreneurial with his life.

That was five years ago. What was Nick's hobby - cooking up hot sauces in his kitchen - developed into his Fire Foods sauce business, and now the 38-year-old Grantham man finds himself literally in possession of hot property. Like many great discoveries Nick says he developed the Infinity Chilli accidentally. "There are 4,000 different varieties of chilli," he explains, "and they're really easy to cross. "I knew as soon as I saw it in the polytunnel. It stood out, and when I dissected it I could tell by the skin tissue and the seeds that it was a hot one." Technically the chilli is not a vegetable but a fruit, from the plant genus "Capsicum". The heat comes from the substance "capsaicin" which is found in all chillies. The attraction of it lies in the way it livens up our foods and makes the body produce pleasurable endorphins afterwards.

The chilli fire is measured by the Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) designed by American chemist Wilbur Scoville in 1912. To put the Grantham chilli in context, a Jalapeno can score anything between 2,500 to 8,000 SHU on this scale. The Bhut Jolokia chilli weighs in at just over 800,000 SHU. The Indian military are reported to have developed a counter-terrorism hand grenade which uses it as an ingredient to immobilise their adversaries. But Grantham's Infinity Chilli has scored 1,176,182 SHU in a test done last year by Andrew Jukes, a scientist at the University of Warwick's Crop Centre.

Source: bbc.co.uk

biscgolf · February 22, 2011

has yet to be stabilized... probably just another bhut hybrid which the brits seem to come up with every few months...

DKelly · February 26, 2011

1 test does not account for much...Brits are not chili eaters and scoville is a test of human perception....also different growing conditions can influence a pepper. A scientific test is in order, but what a marketing ploy!
-d

puttgirl · February 26, 2011

I did read somewhere that the Infinity Chile has broken the Guinness world record. Liquid chromatography measures the heat in chiles pretty accurately, wonder if they used that to determine the scoville units?

matermaniac · February 26, 2011

There was a pepper that was tested a few months ago at Warwick University that topped 1.4million, if I remember correctly. However, it is similar to the infinty in that it is not stable.

To be considered for the Guiness record holder, it needs to meet specific criteria. One could theoretically make a Jalapeno hotter than anything else by unstable crosses and stressing the plants.

But,it's a step in the right direction to a new way to damage yourself.

February 26, 2011

And I thought my Mexican friends were insane, eating hot peppers like candy...

I love hot peppers but cannot eat hot ones anymore. Mild sauce is as far as I go now. What I grow, I give away.

franzb69 · February 28, 2011

the bhut is still king when it comes to stability. that infinity is a 7 pod variant / cross.

but i firmly believe that the trinidad scorpion is the hottest of all stable varieties out there.

dustdevil · March 1, 2011

Naga Viper is the hottest.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...n-2225925.html

biscgolf · March 1, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by dustdevil

Naga Viper is the hottest.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...n-2225925.html

also unstabilized as far as i know...

franzb69 · March 2, 2011

hot, sure. stable, no.

i still recognize the bhut as the hottest stable thing out there that's been tested.

TZ-OH6 · March 2, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by puttgirl

I did read somewhere that the Infinity Chile has broken the Guinness world record. Liquid chromatography measures the heat in chiles pretty accurately, wonder if they used that to determine the scoville units?

Yes, they do, but with a conversion factor of 16x (HPLC measures in parts per million. Pure capsaisin is 16 million SHU or 1 million ppm). Scoville used drop dilution (one drop of pepper extract diluted in water until a pannel of tasters couldn't sense any heat).

duckfan · March 5, 2011

I love really hot food. The Fra Diavolo in most restaurants is too mild for me. I laugh at most bottled hot sauce. I can drink that like tomato juice but bhuts are just nuts. I've seen the YouTube videos. Why would anyone want to eat something that could cause physical injury? It would be easier to find a Cop and ask him to spray his Mace in your mouth.

franzb69 · March 5, 2011

i have a lot of superhots growing in my garden and i can take the heat most of the time. it's not really that bad once you get used to it. tolerance to even the heat levels of super hots can be gained by eating them all the time. =D

but the problems when you go to the toilet almost never goes away. lol.

February 22, 2011	#1
barkeater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NE Kingdom, VT - Zone 3b Posts: 1,439	Move Over Bhut Jolokia UK: 'Record-breaking' chilli is hot news Experts have pronounced a chilli grown in the market town of Grantham, Lincs, as the hottest in the world. Tests have revealed the "Infinity Chilli" to have a Scoville Scale Rating of 1,176,182 - hotter than chilli reportedly used in hand grenades by the Indian military. But what is the attraction of this insanely hot ingredient? The story of the world's hottest chilli begins not in Mexico or Bangladesh, but next to the barbed wire at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland. Nick Woods, working shifts as an RAF security guard and considering his growing family, decided he had to do something more entrepreneurial with his life. That was five years ago. What was Nick's hobby - cooking up hot sauces in his kitchen - developed into his Fire Foods sauce business, and now the 38-year-old Grantham man finds himself literally in possession of hot property. Like many great discoveries Nick says he developed the Infinity Chilli accidentally. "There are 4,000 different varieties of chilli," he explains, "and they're really easy to cross. "I knew as soon as I saw it in the polytunnel. It stood out, and when I dissected it I could tell by the skin tissue and the seeds that it was a hot one." Technically the chilli is not a vegetable but a fruit, from the plant genus "Capsicum". The heat comes from the substance "capsaicin" which is found in all chillies. The attraction of it lies in the way it livens up our foods and makes the body produce pleasurable endorphins afterwards. The chilli fire is measured by the Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) designed by American chemist Wilbur Scoville in 1912. To put the Grantham chilli in context, a Jalapeno can score anything between 2,500 to 8,000 SHU on this scale. The Bhut Jolokia chilli weighs in at just over 800,000 SHU. The Indian military are reported to have developed a counter-terrorism hand grenade which uses it as an ingredient to immobilise their adversaries. But Grantham's Infinity Chilli has scored 1,176,182 SHU in a test done last year by Andrew Jukes, a scientist at the University of Warwick's Crop Centre. Source: bbc.co.uk

February 22, 2011	#2
biscgolf Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Virginia Posts: 353	has yet to be stabilized... probably just another bhut hybrid which the brits seem to come up with every few months...

February 26, 2011	#3
DKelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Hawaii Posts: 88	1 test does not account for much...Brits are not chili eaters and scoville is a test of human perception....also different growing conditions can influence a pepper. A scientific test is in order, but what a marketing ploy! -d

February 26, 2011	#4
puttgirl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: SW PA Posts: 281	I did read somewhere that the Infinity Chile has broken the Guinness world record. Liquid chromatography measures the heat in chiles pretty accurately, wonder if they used that to determine the scoville units?

February 26, 2011	#5
matermaniac Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Slightly North of Charleston, SC Posts: 114	There was a pepper that was tested a few months ago at Warwick University that topped 1.4million, if I remember correctly. However, it is similar to the infinty in that it is not stable. To be considered for the Guiness record holder, it needs to meet specific criteria. One could theoretically make a Jalapeno hotter than anything else by unstable crosses and stressing the plants. But,it's a step in the right direction to a new way to damage yourself.

February 26, 2011	#6
WillysWoodPile Guest Posts: n/a	And I thought my Mexican friends were insane, eating hot peppers like candy... I love hot peppers but cannot eat hot ones anymore. Mild sauce is as far as I go now. What I grow, I give away.

February 28, 2011	#7
franzb69 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Philippines Posts: 210	the bhut is still king when it comes to stability. that infinity is a 7 pod variant / cross. but i firmly believe that the trinidad scorpion is the hottest of all stable varieties out there.

March 1, 2011	#8
dustdevil Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: WI, USA Zone4 Posts: 1,887	Naga Viper is the hottest. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...n-2225925.html

March 2, 2011	#10
franzb69 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Philippines Posts: 210	hot, sure. stable, no. i still recognize the bhut as the hottest stable thing out there that's been tested.

March 5, 2011	#12
duckfan Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Long Island formerly zone 6 Posts: 61	I love really hot food. The Fra Diavolo in most restaurants is too mild for me. I laugh at most bottled hot sauce. I can drink that like tomato juice but bhuts are just nuts. I've seen the YouTube videos. Why would anyone want to eat something that could cause physical injury? It would be easier to find a Cop and ask him to spray his Mace in your mouth.