Ghost Pepper

Ghost Peppers – The new Crying Game

The Ghost Pepper, formally known as Naga Bhut Jolokia, is one of the world’s hottest hot peppers. How hot?

Ghost Pepper

Naga Bhut Jolokia – Ghost Pepper – Shown approx. two times lifesize.

Hot Pepper fans measure “heat” in Scoville Units. It’s a comparative scale on which Sweet Green Bell Peppers register virtually zero. Jalapeños come in at around 5,000 Scoville Units. Tabasco Peppers register around 40,000 Scovilles. Jamaican Habañero (Scotch Bonnet) Peppers burn at over 200,000 Scovilles. But Ghost Peppers average over 1,000,000 Scovilles!

So… This cook at Jimmy’s World Grill and Bar in London, England’s O2 arena, Arif Ali, decides to whip up a “special” sauce for the restaurant’s imminent Hot Wing Eating Contest. He’s probably thinking, “I can do boring Scotch Bonnets one better! I’ll concoct a Wing Sauce to beat all Wing Sauces! I’ll put this eatery on the map!”

And so he did. For all the wrong reasons.

Not one to shrink from a challenge, Yahoo! News reports that Ali volunteered to be the first to try his incendiary Ghost Pepper creation. Witnesses said he ate one wing with no visible effects aside from a few beads of sweat on his brow. Then he ate another… Then another… Then he let out a scream of horror and lunged for nearby glasses of milk and water.

The rest I’ll leave to your imagination.

Yes, Ali survived to cook another day. But his Ghost Pepper Sauce was speedily abandoned, the restaurant’s owners citing public safety concerns.

Kids: Don’t try this at home! Or anywhere, for that matter!

~ Maggie J.