Prices of world's hottest chilli shoots up

Titabor (Assam), India, 2007-02-25 13:31:20
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Prices of Bhut Jolokia , a chilli native to India's northeastern state of Assam, have shot up in markets after the Guinness World Records recognised it as the world's hottest chilli pepper.

The discovery by Paul Bosland, a Regents Professor in horticulture at New Mexico State University, was recognised by the Guinness World Records in a testimony earlier this month saying Bhut Jolokia, belonging to the Capsicum Chinese family and native to Assam, was the hottest of all spices.

The hotness of the Bhut Jolokia, measured in Scoville heat units at two independent laboratories by Bosland, was 1,001,304. It's nearly twice as hot as Red Savina (577,000), the variety it replaces as the hottest. By comparison, a New Mexico green chilli contains about 1,500 Scoville units, while an average jalapeno measures at about 10,000.

'We never thought Bhut Jolokia was so hot until news came in that this is the world's hottest chilli. Now we have hiked the prices by Rs.50 a kg and people are buying it like hot cakes,' said Nalini Ram Thakuria, a vegetable vendor in Guwahati.

A kilogram of Bhut Jolokia, the name translates as the 'ghost chilli', sells at about Rs.250.

'Such is the hotness of this chilli that it can drive away the ghost, and hence the name Bhut Jolokia,' Anandita Dutta Tamuly, a 26-year-old Assamese woman, known for her singular fiery habit of gobbling red hot chillies, told IANS.

And her bizarre habit of eating Bhut Jolokia could earn her fame as she prepares to leave for London on an invitation by the Guinness World Records to create history.

'I have applied for visa and very soon hope to get all my papers ready for going to London,' the demure mother of a 15-month-old baby boy said.

The reigning chilli champ is South Africa's Anita Crafford, who in 2002 gobbled eight jalapenos in a minute.

'Jalapenos are not as hot as Bhut Jolokia's and I have already created history on Indian television by munching 60 of the chillies in two minutes. I am more than confident of creating a record once I reach London,' Tamuly said at her home in Titabor, a village 325 km east of Guwahati.

The Assam government has announced financial support for Tamuly's trip to London.

'I have been eating Bhut Jolokia since my childhood and never felt the hotness in my mouth,' she said.

She got hooked on to the hot pepper when she was just five years old.

'I had a sore tongue and my mother applied a chilli paste to cure the infection when I was five. Since then I developed a penchant for chillies,' Tamuly said.

'I can even break the chilli and splash it on my eyes. I tried this on TV and had no problems whatsoever.'

The local variety of the chilli is grown mostly in the hilly terrain and is considered a staple menu in every meal among the northeastern people.

India exports 35 tonnes of all varieties of chilli, annually earning a considerable amount of revenue for the country.

- By Syed Zarir Hussain