Ghost Chili

The Ghost Chili, offered by the Patent Magic Plant company, is also known as the Bhut Jolokia, Naga Jolokia, and the Bhot Jolokia. The Ghost Chili is a chili pepper recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the third hottest pepper in the world. The Ghost Chili is the hottest pepper that is commercially available. The Ghost Chili, or Bhut Jolokia, originates in the Assam region of northeastern India and parts of Bangladesh. The Ghost Chili is grown in the Indian states of Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur, and the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. The Ghost Chili can also be found in rural Sri Lanka where it is known as the Cobra Chili. In 2007, Guinness World Records certified the Ghost Chili as the world's hottest chili pepper, 401.5 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. The Ghost Chili is considered the hottest commercially available chili pepper. Several pepper growers claim to have hotter peppers, but offer Scoville heat unit (SHU) figures that are highly controversial among the pepper growing community. More rigorous scientific tests on these peppers are yet to be conducted. The Naga Viper, Infinity Chili, and the Dorset Naga claim to be hotter than the Ghost Chili, and supposedly has an average peak Scoville rating higher than an average Ghost Chili.

ghost chili pepper

The Ghost Chili pepper is called different names in different regions. Western culture uses the name "Bhut Jolokia", meaning "Ghost Chili", because when eaten, the Ghost chili has the ability to "vaporize" the consumer. People living north of the Brahmaputra River in India call the Ghost Chili "Bhot Jolokia", "Bhot" meaning "of Bhotiya origin. The Ghost Chili is called the Naga Jolokia south of the Brahmaputra River, where the Ghost Chili is claimed to be from Nagaland, or, alternatively, is named after the ferocious Naga warriors who once inhabited Nagaland. The Assamese word "Jolokia" simply means the Capsicum pepper. In 2000, India's Defence Research Laboratory (DRL) reported a rating of 855,000 heat units (SHU) on the Scoville scale, and in 2004 a rating of 1,041,427 units was made using HPLC analysis. For comparison, Tabasco red pepper sauce rates at 2,500-5,000, and pure capsaicin (the chemical responsible for heat in pepper plants) rates at 15,000,000-16,000,000 SHU. In 2005, at New Mexico State University Chili Pepper Institute near Las Cruces, New Mexico, Ghost Chilis grown from seed in southern new Mexico were found to have a Scoville rating of 1,001,304 SHU by HPLC analysis.