New chili stakes claim as world's hottest
Source: Agencies |
April 26, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BEWARE, Naga Viper. Your reign as the world's hottest chili pepper may be coming to a close.
A group of Australians is seeking world record status for a new variety of chili, a bright red pepper so potent that processing it for eating requires gas masks and protective chemical warfare-like clothing.
The "Trinidad Scorpion Butch T" chili, a mere 2.5 centimeters long, comes with a fiery 1.46 million Scoville Heat Units per chili, according to testing by Melbourne firm EML Chemical - taking it well past the Naga Viper British Chili, the Guinness record-holder at 1.38 million SHU.
A jalapeno pepper contains anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000 SHU.
"I had hallucinations, I had to lie down, I couldn't walk for 20 minutes, dizzy," said Marcel de Wit, one of a group of men who developed and grew the incendiary vegetable, about eating a raw Trinidad Scorpion Butch T.
"This chili was so severe. I will never, ever do it again."
Processing the chili, first harvested earlier this year at Morisett, a town nearly 89 kilometers north of Sydney, requires the utmost care.
Pickers wear gloves and take care to not let the plant touch any part of their skin because of the burning sensation that would result.
People involved in boiling the minced chili into puree for sauces wear chemical masks and protective clothing to avoid the fumes.
De Wit says despite his mania for spice, heat isn't everything.
"It's the flavor that's first and the heat that's second," he said, describing the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T chili as really tasty. "It was like eating a fruit salad that's on fire," he added.
A group of Australians is seeking world record status for a new variety of chili, a bright red pepper so potent that processing it for eating requires gas masks and protective chemical warfare-like clothing.
The "Trinidad Scorpion Butch T" chili, a mere 2.5 centimeters long, comes with a fiery 1.46 million Scoville Heat Units per chili, according to testing by Melbourne firm EML Chemical - taking it well past the Naga Viper British Chili, the Guinness record-holder at 1.38 million SHU.
A jalapeno pepper contains anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000 SHU.
"I had hallucinations, I had to lie down, I couldn't walk for 20 minutes, dizzy," said Marcel de Wit, one of a group of men who developed and grew the incendiary vegetable, about eating a raw Trinidad Scorpion Butch T.
"This chili was so severe. I will never, ever do it again."
Processing the chili, first harvested earlier this year at Morisett, a town nearly 89 kilometers north of Sydney, requires the utmost care.
Pickers wear gloves and take care to not let the plant touch any part of their skin because of the burning sensation that would result.
People involved in boiling the minced chili into puree for sauces wear chemical masks and protective clothing to avoid the fumes.
De Wit says despite his mania for spice, heat isn't everything.
"It's the flavor that's first and the heat that's second," he said, describing the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T chili as really tasty. "It was like eating a fruit salad that's on fire," he added.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
