UK chili may set new heat record

by Nick Vagnoni, Posted Apr 5th 2006 @ 8:04PM

A British couple has grown what they claim to be the hottest variety of chili pepper in the world. Dubbed the Dorset Naga, the pepper has apparently tested at between 876,000 and 970,000 Scoville heat units, according to The Telegraph. For comparison, common habanero peppers clock in at about 200,000-300,000 SHUs and jalapeños are in the low thousands. The Dorset Naga was developed by Michael and Joy Michaud in Dorset. On their website, they trace the origin of their chili to the Bangladeshi Naga Morich. Still, Dorset Naga is hotter than that, and the Michaud's aren't quite sure why. Their site features several articles about similar strains of absurdly hot peppers. According to the Telegraph article, there isn't a whole lot you can do with the Dorset Naga. Some of the Michaud's customers have actually complained that the peppers were too hot to cook with. A chef quoted in the article says that some people simply brush their foods with the pepper before eating.

Filed Under: Science, Food Oddities, Newspapers, Ingredients
Tags: british, british isles, chile, chili, dorset naga, fruit, habanero, hottest chili in the world, jalapeno, michaud, oddities, pepper, record, scoville units, spices

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-06-2006 @1:57AM Ken Sloan said... Wow, it's like the ever-lasting gobstopper for those that like it spicy. I'd be afraid to be in the same room as one of those things! I imagine they'll turn up on Fear Factor by 2007.
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4-06-2006 @12:41PM Jonathan Harford said... “Simply wave the Dorset Naga in the vicinity of the food you would like to season. WARNING: 'pointing' the pepper at the dish or bringing it closer than six inches to your food may render your meal inedibly spicy.”
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8-27-2008 @5:18PM Yvonne said... Hello. We were absolutely delighted when we spotted packs of Dorset Naga Chillies on Tesco shelves the other day.

However something is terribly wrong. They just don't have any heat! My husband and I love hot chillies and grow our own chillies in the greenhouse each year. It is always a challenge to grow really nice hot ones and we've so been looking forward to cooking with (and munching on) Dorset Nagas. We can't seem to manage to grow that variety.

The packet of Dorset Naga we have just used really doesn't have any heat (nor at the moment do Tesco's Scotch Bonnet chillies). In fact to be honest the little green birdseyes have more heat than the Nagas they are selling. I just don't understand how they can sell chillies under the name of Dorset Nagas when they are clearly not very hot.

What do you think is going on? Are others finding them rather lame or is it just me?

Yvonne
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4-13-2006 @9:54AM Angela Pitt said... You know what they say, can't stand the heat, get out
the kitchen!
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8-17-2007 @2:36PM clyde said... my wife cant find a pepper hot enough how can i get some of the hottesr peppers?
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1-06-2008 @8:24AM curtis said... where can i get some of these "HOT" peppers?
i have not tried a hot pepper really they all effect me like ground pepper.

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