World's Hottest Pepper Going Into 'Super' Sauce

By Growing Produce Staff|May 13, 2009

Lovers of hot chile might need some divine intervention to squelch the heat after they try a new hot sauce created from the world’s hottest chile pepper. The El Paso Times reports that New Mexico State University’s Chile Pepper Institute in Las Cruces has joined with CaJohns Fiery Foods of Columbus, OH, to create Holy Jolokia hot sauce made from Bhut Jolokia chile peppers – certified by the institute as the world’s hottest pepper.

“This has got some heat, but we wanted people to eat it so we didn’t make it too hot,” said Paul Bosland, Chile Pepper Institute director and chile pepper expert. “We’ve already sent a shipment to Denmark.”

The Bhut Jolokia, also known as the Ghost Chile, measures in at more than 1 million Scoville Heat Units. In comparison, an average jalapeño measures about 10,000 heat units. The pepper’s story was featured in the January issue of American Vegetable Grower.to read it.

Tasters are given fair warning: The bottle label for the reddish-orange hot sauce features an image of a red Bhut Jolokia chile pod inside a large flame. Guinness World Records lists Bosland as discovering the Bhut Jolokia as the world’s hottest chile pepper in 2006.