WASH HANDS THOROUGHLY

The world has a new hottest chilli pepper. Introducing the Dorset Naga, courtesy of the Telegraph :

"It is something I wouldn't eat but some people must like them," said Joy Michaud, who developed the chilli at the Peppers by Post business she runs with her husband Michael at West Bexington.

An American laboratory found the chilli to be almost 60 per cent hotter than the one listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The Naga registered a Scoville heat unit of 876,000. The record holder is a Red Savina Habanero with a rating of 577,000.

The result was so startling that the Dorset pepper was sent for a second test to a laboratory in New York used by the American Spice Trade Association. It recorded a higher figure of 970,000 heat units. The Naga, which is sold with a health warning, was developed from a variety which originated in Bangladesh.

The Michauds found the chillis, collected the seeds and grew them. It was only when customers told them they were unable to eat curries containing half a small pepper that they realized how hot they were. ...

Aktar Miha, of the Indis Bangladeshi restaurant in Bournemouth, said: "Most people don't cook with it; they just have it near to them when they eat. They just touch their food with it. If you don't know what you are doing it could blow your head off."

Blow your head off? Excellent.