What’s hotter than a Ghost pepper?

The bhutjolokia is actually so spicy that it is used in Military grade pepper spray and smoke bombs as a nontoxic biological weapon. Yet this thumb sized chilli with frightening potency and YouTube star status stands at number 7 on the list of the world’s hottest chilli! Check out the list of super spice bombs that precede even the dreaded ghost pepper in terms of their spice quotient.

7. BhutJholakia- 800,000 to 1,041,427 SHU

If someone dares you to even nibble at these you should know they don’t have your best interests in mind. Also dubbed as the ghost pepper for obvious reasons our very own Indian prodigy remained the world’s hottest pepper for the longest time until it was replaced in 2011.

6. Seven Pot Habanero – 923,000 to 1,853,396 SHU

This one is actually called so because just one of these little fellows can add truckloads of spice to 7 large family sized pots of stew. Its chocolaty brown colour gives it another alias – the chocolate 7 pot or the chocolate douglah. This one apparently has more flavour when compared to the rest, but good luck figuring that out with the kind of heat this evil chilli gives you.

5. Infinity Chilli - 1,176,182 SHU

The infinity chilli had its 15 minutes of fame as it held the title for the hottest chilli in the world for just two weeks. You ought to invest in some fire men gear if you ever plan to cook with or even touch these red hot chilli peppers. Quite an apt name because just a bite of it guarantees infinite amounts of pain that lasts for hours!

4. Naga Viper - 1,382,118 SHU

The naga viper is a hybrid of 3 really-really hot chillies; its cultivation is pretty much limited to areas in United Kingdom. Its growth is unstable which means its offspring may not be exactly like the original chilli and each chilli is slightly different. Better to keep lethal stuff like this carefully guarded and under lock and key, no?

3. Trinidad ‘butch’ Scorpion- 1,463,700 SHU

The Caribbean island of Trinidad is home to a large variety of the world’s spiciest chillies. Scorpion peppers get their name because of their characteristic scorpion stinger like pointy tail end and this one is called ‘butch’ because of its proud cultivator – Butch Taylor. This pretty chilli with its bright orange-red colour and smooth skin should come with a disclaimer – eat at your own risk.

2. Trinidad ‘moruga’ scorpion– 1200,000 - 2,009,231 SHU

The Trinidad ‘moruga’ scorpion also from the Caribbean island of Trinidad is cultivated by a guy who specialized in growing spicy chillies – so you can imagine what to expect. Around 500 times hotter than your ordinary tobacco and the first ever chilli to break the 2 million SHU record in the world – we let you do the math.

1. The Carolina reaper – 1,500,000-2,200,000 SHU

The Carolina reaper – the cross breed of a ghost chilli and red habanero is the ultimate ruling king in this blazing world of chillies. Even a remote whiff of this evil red chilli is enough to bring tears of pain to your eyes. The crinkly texture and the long end tail are classic characteristics of this Caribbean spice bomb that has been ruling the roost since August 2013.

Keep browsing through SanjeevKapoor.com for more spicy reads and recipes to turn up the heat in your kitchen.