The World's Hottest Chilli!

Two hot varieties; the one on the right is the world's hottest!

The "Bhut Jolokia" ( bhut means ghost and jolokia means chilli)
was given a rating of 855,000 Scoville heat units by officials
at the Defence research and Development Establishment, Gwalior.
They reported their findings in an August 2000 issue of "Current
Science". The scientists tested a Tezpur (a town in Assam) variety
of the bhut, or "Capsicum frutescens var. Nagahari as it is known
to botanists. Some bhut specimens have since scored over a million
units in tests done in other labs, like the New Mexico State Uni-
versity's chilli Pepper Institute in the US. The Guinness Book of
World Records recently certified the bhut jolokia as the world's
hottest chilli pepper.
The bhut is between 35 and 50mm long. It looks similar to the
habanero, but the skin is more dented. In the north-east, besides
being used as a spice, the bhut is smeared on fences to scare off
wild elephants.

( Facts taken from the Indian Reader's Digest, April 2008)