Some like it hottest

Abstract

It is an unpleasant thought but the story goes that when the French were involved militarily in Mexico in the 19th century, the corpses of their dead were fed upon by wolves while local soldiers were left alone because of the high chilli content of the Mexican diet. 1 Davidson A The Oxford companion to food. Oxford University Press, Oxford1999: 171 Google Scholar There are plenty of myths surrounding Capsicum spp so the report on April 1, the one day in the year when the press sets out to mislead readers just for fun, that the world's hottest chilli had been found (again) may have raised a few eyebrows. 2 de Bruxelles S The chilli so hot you need gloves. Times (London), April 1, 2006. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2113507,00.html Google Scholar The fact that this fiery specimen had been bred in southwest England rather than, say, South America or south Asia seemed to confirm the suspicion. Yet the claim is true; the Dorset Naga chilli scored around 900 000 on the Scoville scale on independent testing in the US. (In 1912, while working for the Parke Davis pharmaceutical company, Wilbur Scoville devised a taste dilution test for the heat of chillis). Before April 1 of this year, the record was generally thought to have been held by a habañero, scoring up to 570 000 Scoville units, but the current title-holder has some way to go because pure capsaicin comes in at 15 million or more. 3 Anon Wilbur Scoville & pepper chemistry. http://www.g6csy.net/chile/scoville.htmlDate: March 6, 2005 Google Scholar