India’s ‘Ghost Pepper’ Chilli Is so Hot Villagers Use it to Repel Elephants. Will Britain Be Able to Handle It?

South China Morning Post ^ | 0pm, 16 Sep, 2021 | Kalpana Sunder

[nickcarraway]

India’s hottest chilli, the bhut jolokia, is 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce and can induce breathing difficulties in diners. In 2007, it was declared the spiciest chilli in the world, a title it held for four years. In July it was exported to Britain for the first time.

Its heat is so ferocious that Indian villagers use it to keep wild elephants away by smearing it across walls and fences. Bhut jolokia has even been used by the Indian military in smoke grenades, and in pepper sprays for self-defence. It was the first pepper to reach 1 million units on the Scoville scale, which measures a chilli’s pungency, although it has since been surpassed by the Carolina Reaper and the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion.

Bhut jolokia, which means Bhutanese pepper, is also known as the “ghost pepper”, Naga chilli or Raja Mircha. Grown mainly in the states of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur, it has a distinctive, pungent smell and has been used in meat dishes for centuries.

[cherry]

I have some hot banana peppers still growing in the garden....supposed to be 10X less hot than jalopeno’s and they still make my lips get numb while cleaning them.

[Fiji Hill]

When I was in Wales in 1966, I never heard anyone speak Welsh nor did I ever see a sign in Welsh. And we drove across the whole country—crossing the border at Chepstow in the southeast, then on to Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Dolgellau, Bala Lake, and finally crossing back into England at Birkenhead. It seems the language has been revived in the intervening decades.