Sounds like something you'd order at Sizzler or Outback Steakhouse...or at a Chili's. But instead it's a legit weapon of war...or at least crowd control. This story is a little dated, but that doesn't change the fact that I came across it today. In an effort to reach out to our Indian fan base, I thought I'd shed light on the effective new weapon of the Indian Army. It appears that the fearless troops have begun to fill grenade casings with dust from the world's hottest chili - the bhut jolokia, native to Assam in northeast India. Chili/pepper hotness, I learned, is measured in Scoville heat units. The average Jalapeno scores a 10,000 on the Scoville scale. Not bad. Mexico's hottest pepper? The red savina scores a reputable 577,000. (Sidenote: does anyone else wonder if this ranking system is like Zimbabwe's currency: hyperinflated?). But the bhut jolokia? 1,001,304. Those last 1,304 units count just as much as the first 1,000,000. Trust me.
Check out the full story here.
It does sound inflated, but there are actually some moderately spicy peppers with very low Skoville unites. This month's Men's Health had a Skoville scale with various peppers placed at their respective spots on the scale. A green pepper had between 0 and 10 Skoville units. Interesting scale. I wonder how it's measured.
ReplyDelete