A Welsh farmer has created the world’s hottest chilli, and it is so hot it might be deadly to anyone who dares eat it.
The chilli was created by Mike Smith of Denbighshire, who was trying to create a beautiful looking chilli plant for the Chelsea Flower show.
Needless to say, Mr Smith was a little surprised when he placed the chilli on his tongue.
He told the Daily Post that the chilli just burned and burned.
“I spat it out in about 10 seconds,” he said.
Created in conjunction with scientists from Nottingham Univeristy, who are interested in the chilli as an alternative to anaesthesia, Mr Smith’s plant far surpasses the hottest chilli on the Scoville heat scale, The Carolina Reaper.
The Reaper which was previously named the hottest chilli on the world, is rated at 2.2 million on the scale.
Smith’s chilli which has been appropriately named Dragon’s Breath is rated at 2.48 million.
To put it into perspective, a bird’s eye chilli is only rated at 100,000-200, 000 on the scale.
The Scoville scale measures heat intensity in terms of how detectable one drop is per drops of water. That means that just one drop of oil from Dragon’s Breath is detectable in 2.48 million drops of water.
Scientists believe eating a chilli so hot would make your airways close up causing you to go into anaphylactic shock and die.
Whilst this chilli will probably stay out of culinary dishes, it may have some medical benefits.
The oil of the chilli is thought to be so potent that it numbs the skin, making it a potential alternative anaesthetic for people with allergies and people who live in poorer countries.
Mr Smith is now awaiting a confirmation letter from the Guinness Book of Records that his chilli is the most potent in the world.