Story of the Bhut Jolokia - short version!
In the year 2000, reports of a very hot chilli started coming out of  Assam, India. The Bhut Jolokia was reported as being twice as hot as the previous record holder, the Red Savina Habanero.

These initial reports were treated with a lot of scepticism in the chilli community. It took a trial carried out in 2005 by the Chilli Pepper Institute to convince folk that this chilli was the new king. In this trial, the CPI measured the Bhut Jolokia at over 1million Scoville Heat Units.

The DNA tests performed showed that the chilli was mostly a Habanero, but had some contribution from a chilli related to Tabasco.

A chilli with many names.
The same chilli was being called several different names: Bhut Jolokia (ghost chilli); Bih Jolokia (poison chilli) and Naga Jolokia (warrior chilli). When the CPI published its results, they came down in favour of the Bhut Jolokia - the name adopted by the Indian company Frontal Agritech, who now hold the official record.