LAS CRUCES, MEXICO, February 17, 2007: When Paul Bosland, a regents professor at New Mexico State University, had his first bite of India’s Bhut Jolokia chili he exclaimed that he felt like he was breathing fire. It all started back in 2001 when a member from the New Mexico State University’s Chile Pepper Institute was visiting India and discovered the pepper. Bhut Jolokia seeds were sent to New Mexico for testing. The news release explained, “Bosland then grew Bhut Jolokia, Red Savina and habanero peppers under controlled settings and found that Bhut Jolokia had significantly higher Scoville ratings. Those findings were confirmed by two independent laboratories. Bhut Jolokia comes in at 1,001,304 Scoville heat units, a measure of hotness for a chili. It is nearly twice as hot as Red Savina, the variety it replaces as the hottest. By comparison, an average jalapeno measures at about 10,000.” A U.S. Researcher said that India’s Bhut Jolokia chili has been confirmed as the world’s hottest pepper by The Guinness Book of Records.
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