08 Sep 2011 Hottest pepper tips heat scale

This spring the Chilli Factory in Australia has recently launched a hot new product: sauce made from the hottest chilli in the world. The Trinidad Scorpion Butch T registers 1,463,700 Scoville heat units, well beyond the Infinity Chilli, the reputed world’s-spiciest pepper announced just last year, and nearly 300 times as hot as the hottest jalapeño.

The pepper is so brutal that owners Marcel and Alex de Wit wear protective suits to guard against fumes while cooking their brew, called Scorpion Strike, and which is dubbed ‘stupidly hot BBQ sauce’.

Butch T is genetically primed to produce extraordinary levels of the heat-inducing chemical capsaicin, but only under perfect conditions.

Horticultural expert Mark Peacock’s technique calls for a fertilizer blend of worm excrement to boost protective bacteria around the plant’s roots and crushed insects to stimulate natural defense mechanisms.

On sampling the fruits of his labour, Peacock called said: “It’s the worst pain I’ve ever felt.”

Source: The Chilli Factory