Bhut Jolokia (also known as"Ghost Pepper" or Naga jolokia or Nai Mirris (Cobra Chilli)) is the hottest pepper in the world.
Being the (brazen) adventurist that I am, I have tried the hottest pepper on earth. Introduced to me as the Ghost Pepper, I came to find out this hot lil, devil vegetable goes by many scary and hard to pronounce names, and is damn hot.
My first and only experience with the ghost pepper was one to remember. One random Friday evening I was dining at a delicious Indian food restaurant (Red Fort) in Torrance, CA. The owner/manager of the restaurant (a gregarious and delightful man) came over to our table with a pair of scissors and a plastic bag of something. Having already expressed my love for spicy foods earlier in the evening, the owner asked me if I wanted to try a "very spicy pepper". Of course the "fearless and daring" side of my personality perked up and I said "YES"!!
*To back up for a minute, I like Sriracha and Tabasco sauce...not all spicy foods, so for me to declare with gusto that I like spicy foods (as though I am some spicy food aficionado) is idiotic of me.
The owner then proceeded to snip off a tiny speck of the pepper, put it on a napkin and allow me to proceed at my own risk. The scissors and plastic bag should have tipped me off as to how hot this pepper is, but I continued to place that tiny piece of pepper onto my tongue without hesitation.
After putting the speck of ghost pepper (size of a sprinkle) on my tongue, a burning sensation filled my mouth. After 10 seconds, I felt like the pepper was actually boring a hole directly through my tongue. Needless to say, I took the pepper immediately out of my mouth and started gulping red wine (to no alleviation). The burning, searing sensation lasted a good 30 minutes after the pepper was out of my mouth. After the pepper was crumpled in a napkin at my table, the owner came over and handed me his iPhone. On the screen a video was playing (below: Youtube video) of a man who put a piece of the intestinal track of the ghost pepper in his mouth. I seriously suggest you check this video out; great entertainment/warning.
The Ghost Pepper is not something to mess around with. It is the hottest pepper in the world.
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The bhut jolokia—also known variously by other names in its native region (see below), most commonly Naga jolokia — is a chili pepper generally recognized as the hottest in the world. The pepper is sometimes called the Ghost pepper by Western media, possibly erroneously.
The Bhut Jolokia is a naturally-occurring interspecific hybrid from the Assam region of northeastern India. It grows in the Indian states of Nagaland and Manipur, and the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. It can also be found in rural Sri Lanka where it is known as Nai Mirris (Cobra Chilli). There was initially some confusion and disagreement about whether the Bhut was a Capsicum frutescens or a Capsicum chinense pepper, but DNA tests showed it to be an interspecies hybrid, mostly C. chinense with some C. frutescens genes. In 2007, Guinness World Records certified the Bhut Jolokia as the world's hottest chili pepper, 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce.