Is Naga Snake Bite the world's hottest hot sauce?

Masochists and chile-heads have a British stockbroker to thank for unleashing Naga Snake Bite Sauce on the world. The fiery brew is made from what some claim is the world's hottest pepper. According to the sauce's creator, Mark McMullan, the naga morich chili clocks in at a breathtaking 1,598,227 Scoville Heat Units, beating out the bhut jolokia chili. In any case the dorset naga hasn't been certified by Guinness, while the bhut jolokia has.

The finer points of world records aside, one thing's for sure McMullan has created one blisteringly hot sauce. To give an idea, the dorset naga is 300 times hotter than a jalapeno. The pepper's name derives from the naga, a snakelike creature from Indian mythology. This may explain why the label claims the sauce is "Like drinking cobra venom." I don't think cobra venom is spicy, but it's certainly deadly.

Apparently McMullan thinks the sauce is potentially dangerous since he asks that folks ordering the sauce paste a disclaimer into their e-mails. Among other things it states: "I, the prospective purchaser of Naga Snakebite 'Private Reserve', hereby release thechileman from all liability with respect to damage or claims of injury resulting from the misuse or over consumption of this product."

It would seem that British newspaperman Owen Amos did not read the disclaimer. He downed a teaspoonful of it in a taste test and likened it to chewing hot coals. Although he did say that before the Scoville assault hit, he detected a fruitiness. I can't even begin to imagine the endorphin rush he must have got from downing that amount. [via: Spluch]

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