UK’s Infinity pips Bhut Jolokia as hottest chilli

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Paris Hilton arrives at her 30th birthday party in New York on Thursday. PHOTO: AP

It’s official. The UK’s Infinity is the world’s hottest chilli — in fact, it has made it to the Guinness Book of Records after out-spicing the previous title holder, the Bhut Jolokia, from India.
Measuring 1.17 million on the Scoville Scale — an official measure of spicy heat — the Infinity chilli is so hot that it carries a health warning, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.
The chilli is grown in Grantham in the UK, a place which was earlier famous as the birthplace of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Grower Nick Woods, 39, who runs his own business Fire Foods from his home in Grantham, said he grew the record breaking chilli by accident. “I didn’t set out to grow it, it’s really easy for chillies to crossbreed in a greenhouse, one day I just saw this new chilli plant growing. When I tried it tasted nice at first, like an odd fruity taste, the effect is delayed. Then it hit me. All of a sudden I felt it burning in the back of my throat, so hot that I couldn’t speak. I began to shake uncontrollably, I felt physically sick. I really wouldn’t recommend anybody eat it raw like that,” he said. He added: “We do feel quite honoured to get it because everyone in the world has heard of the Guinness Book of World Records. If someone else comes along and beats it, they can never take it away from us that we once held world record.”