I've been away for some months.
I wonder if this will make the news!!
Do you think out Tourist Board will understand the marketing coup to be gained from this article?
Do you think they even know about it (before reading t here, first, on Tuner, of course)?
Nah!! They are not that bright!!!
'People actually get a crack-like rush': U.S. experts rate the Moruga Scorpion as the world's hottest chilli pepper
By Damien Gayle
Last updated at 1:56 PM on 16th February 2012
It seems that the world's spice growers are embroiled in something akin to an arms race, competing to produce the most incapacitatingly hot chillies.
One former title holder - northern India's Bhut Jolokia, or ghost pepper - is so spicy it has reportedly even been weaponised by Indian armed forces.
Now experts at New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute have identified the new hottest pepper on the planet, Trinidad's intimidatingly named Moruga Scorpion.
Fiery: The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, the new hottest pepper on the planet, as identified by NMSU's Chile Pepper Institute
The golf ball-sized pepper scored the highest among a handful of chilli breeds reputed to be among the hottest in the world.
Its mean heat topped more than 1.2million units on the Scoville heat scale, while fruits from some individual plants reached 2million heat units.
'You take a bite. It doesn't seem so bad, and then it builds and it builds and it builds. So it is quite nasty,' said Paul Bosland, pepper expert and director of the institute.
Unscientific claims of which peppers were really the hottest led hot sauce makers, seed producers and others in the spicy foods industry to push for the research.
'The question was, could the Chile Pepper Institute establish the benchmark for chilli heat?' Mr Bosland said.
'Chilli heat is a complex thing, and the industry doesn't like to base it on just a single fruit that's a record holder. It's too variable.'
The academic institute is based at the university's agriculture school and is partially funded by federal grants, as well as some industry groups depending on the project.
The team planted about 125 plants of each variety - the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, the Trinidad Scorpion, the 7-pot, the Chocolate 7-pot and the Bhut Jolokia of India.
The Bhut Jolokia was a previous record-holder identified by the institute and certified by Guinness World Records in 2007.
Could this be the real hottest? The Naga Viper rates an astonishing 1,359,000 on the Scoville scale, according to British researchers
Randomly selected mature fruits from several plants within each variety were harvested, dried and ground to powder. The compounds that produce heat sensation - the capsaicinoids - were then extracted and examined.
During harvesting, senior research specialist Danise Coon said she and the two students who were picking the peppers went through about four pairs of latex gloves.
'The capsaicin kept penetrating the latex and soaking into the skin on our hands. That has never happened to me before,' she said.
Chilli peppers of the same variety can vary in heat depending on environmental conditions.
More stress on a plant - hotter temperatures or less water, for example - will result in hotter fruit.
The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion's new notoriety is already making waves in the industry and among those who love their hot, spicy foods.
'As with all the previous record holders, there will be a run on seeds and plants,' said Jim Duffy, a grower in San Diego who supplied the university with seeds for four of the super-hot varieties.
'Like Cabbage Patch dolls right before Christmas or Beanie Babies, it's like the hot item.'
Packs a punch: The ferocious Bhut Jolokia
Not even Mr Duffy or the researchers would dare to pop a whole Trinidad Moruga Scorpion in their mouths, but there videos on social networking sites where daredevils have tried.
The blood flow increases and the endorphins start flowing. Their faces turn red, the sweat starts rolling, their eyes and noses water and there's a fiery sensation that spreads across their tongues and down their throats.
'People actually get a crack-like rush,' Mr Duffy said. 'I know the people who will eat the hottest stuff to get this rush, but they've got to go through the pain.'
Another contender: The Infinity Chilli, developed and grown in Lincolnshire
According to pepper experts most people just want to try out these super-hot peppers on their friends or make hot sauce. But they have been put to other, more unusual uses.
The Indian Government has examined ways of using the very hottest chillis such as the Bhut Jolokia to produce a spice bomb that would incapacitate enemies without killing them.
Earlier this year they created an 81-mm tear-gas like grenade which could be thrown by a soldier.
The mix of spices and phosphorous chokes the enemy’s respiratory tract, leaving targets barely able to breathe for a time.
It also causes severe stinging to the skin as well as streaming eyes, a burning throat and disorientation.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z1mdJI6HHc
