In 2007, the bhut jolokia, 100 times hotter than the average jalapeño, made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s hottest chili…only to be dethroned in the book's latest edition by the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T
. Although the bhut jolokia has lost its world-record title, it's recently found a more practical role: alleviating poverty in its home province of Assam. At The Guardian, Helen Pidd describes
how bhut jolokia, also known as the ghost chili, became a lucrative crop for impoverished Assamese farmers when its world-record status drove fans of spicy foods to offer enormous sums for the fiery chili.
The Assamese government wanted in. Farmers were offered subsidies to cultivate the plant, with some famous tea gardens in upper Assam even getting in on the act. Trinity [a non-governmental organization] has selected another 2,000 Assamese farmers to grow the crop, said Nagen Talukdar, Trinity's ...
