Dorset Naga
The Dorset Naga pepper, Capsicum chinense, is considered among the hottest in the world. The spiciness is due to a substance called capsaicin. This substance is contained mainly in the placenta about 90%, 4% in the seeds and the remaining 6% in other parts of the berry.A pharmacist, Dr. Wilbur Scoville, invented a way to measure the degree of hotness of chili peppers, called SHU (Scoville Units Hot).The Dorset Naga chilli, in some official measurements, has reached almost 1,000,000 SHU.
This variety was created by two British brothers agronomists, Joy and Michael Michaud, in the village of West Bexington in Dorset.
In 2001, The Michaud manage to find some of the fruits of a variety called Naga Morich from the Bangla Desh (the Nagas are a tribe of warriors). Then begins a period of selection with the intent to obtain plants and fruits larger, with earlier maturation and with hotness more stable. In 2004 the harvest was homogeneous with better features than the original Naga Morich.
In 2005, the Michaud send samples to laboratories for testing the hotness. The results are surprising: Dorset Naga is born with 923,000 SHU. In 2006 the degree of hotness reached 960,000 SHU. Before the advent of the Bhut Jolokia the Dorset Naga was to hold the
undisputed world record of spiciness. Come back to Chilli peppers