Bhut Jolokia

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Bhut Jolokia

The Bhut-Jolokia or Naga-Jolokia chilli is a cultivated form of the capsicum chinense pepper variety . Local varieties with this name come from the north-east of India and have also become known outside of India because of their special sharpness. In 2006 it was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the hottest chili in the world . Previously, measurements by the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University had shown record values ​​of over one million Scoville units , which is roughly 1.8 times the sharpness of the previous record holder, Red Savina . In 2012 Bhut Jolokia was replaced by Trinidad Moruga Scorpion , from 2013 to 2015 Carolina Reaper was considered the hottest chilli in the world.

description

Flowers of a Bhut Jolokia
Plant with unripe fruits

When cultivated, Bhut Jolokia plants reach a stature height of about 120 cm, reports from northeast India speak of kitchen gardens in which three-year-old plants reach a height of about 4 m. The morphology corresponds to that of typical representatives of the species Capsicum chinense : The surface of the leaves looks wrinkled, the flowers often hang in pairs (occasionally in threes) from the axils of the stem axis and have creamy white crowns . The stamens consist of a purple filament with a blue anther . The constriction between the flower stem and calyx, which is typical for Capsicum chinense , is only indistinctly pronounced, but can still be recognized.

Since the plant has a hybrid origin, the pollen often dies , which leads to a reduced pollination rate and thus the fall of flowers. The fruits ripen from green to bright red; land races with orange, light red and chocolate brown fruits are also known in northeast India. They reach a length of 5 to 8 cm, are elongated and have a wavy surface. Between 22 and 47 seeds were counted in the fruits  .

Cultivation

Traditional cultivation in India

In northeast India, 'Bhut-Jolokia' plants are sporadically grown in mixed culture with rice in the Jhum - alternating culture or grown in small home gardens. The plants are either sown directly or as one to two month old seedlings in the rice fields, where bamboo has often been cleared and burned beforehand. The main harvest usually takes place in August and September. In the home gardens, shady places for the plants are often preferred, as the yield should be higher here than in very sunny locations.

Growing conditions

The ideal germination temperature of the seeds is between 26 ° C and 32 ° C in a moist substrate. Germination is often very slow and can take up to 36 days. 'Bhut Jolokia' require a very long ripening period, so that up to 160 days can pass between sowing and harvest.

use

kitchen

In the cuisine of northeastern India , especially in Nagaland , the Bhut Jolokia is valued not only for its sharpness, but also for its aroma. It is harvested green or fully ripe and used raw or cooked with vegetables. A single fruit should be enough to flavor two meals for a family of five to six.

Since the main harvest time of the fruit coincides with the end of the monsoon rains , drying the fruit is not practical. Instead, the fruits are preserved either by pickling or smoking. There are three basic methods of pickling: The fruits are cut into slices and then either stored in a mass of grated bamboo shoots in the sun for a week or two or soaked in mustard oil or lemon juice.

Medical use

The 'Bhut Jolokia' is occasionally used in traditional medicine in Northeast India. It should be used in small doses for asthma and digestive tract complaints , hot extracts should help with tooth and muscle pain . A paste made from the young leaves of the plant is applied to burns. For some of the applications, scientific studies can be found in which the effectiveness has been confirmed in comparable applications.

Irritant

Much of the publications in India on extremely hot chilli varieties are related to the Indian Defense Research and Development Establishment . Already in the first publication from the year 2000 a possible use as an irritant to control unrest was discussed, in 2005 one speaks of “good progress in finding suitable substitutes for CN , CS and CR gas ” (“progressing well in finding suitable alternatives to CN, CS and CR "). In 2009 it was announced that the capsaicin obtained from the fruits would be used in the form of hand grenades .

History and exploration

Harvested fruits

The first mention of a chilli in scientific literature that is associated with the Bhut Jolokia is a publication in August 2000 by Indian scientists led by Ritesh Mathur. For a variety called Tezpur Chili or Naga Hari , they determined a degree of severity of 855,000 Scoville units by HPLC measurements . They named the species as Capsicum frutescens . Western scholars who became aware of the Indian chilli through a newspaper report in the International Herald Tribune viewed these results with skepticism. On the one hand, it was not possible to identify from the publication whether and to what extent the calibrations necessary for comparability of the results were carried out before the HPLC measurement; on the other hand, Capsicum frutescens was not known to have even anywhere near as high a spiciness value , and the Red Savina , which was known as the hottest chilli until then , only had a spiciness of 577,000 Scoville units.

From 2001, Bhut-Jolokia seeds collected in India were propagated in the Chile Pepper Institute of New Mexico State University under the direction of Paul Bosland . Due to the low fruit set and a low number of seeds in the fruits, there were only enough seeds available in 2005 to start a comparison test between Bhut Jolokia, Red Savina and a commercially available, orange Habanero variety. Investigations of the DNA showed that Bhut Jolokia is a natural hybrid of the two species Capsicum chinense and Capsicum frutescens . The genome is mainly similar to the former; genes from Capsicum frutescens are probably introduced through natural introgression . The simultaneous measurement of the sharpness resulted in 1,001,304 Scoville units for Bhut Jolokia, the Habanero reached 357,729 Scoville units and the Red Savina even only 248,556 Scoville units. In 2010 a study of the DNA of various local varieties from Manipur was published by scientists working with Keithellakpam Sanatombi. According to them, the Naga Hari from the publication by Ritesh Mathur et al. from the year 2000 about the cultivar Umorok , which also took a position between Capsicum chinense and Capsicum frutescens in the investigations . However, there is no mention of whether Umorok is identical to Bhut Jolokia.

In autumn 2006, the Guinness Book of Records announced that the Bhut Jolokia was recognized as the hottest chilli variety in the world, displacing the previous record holder, Red Savina . This in turn has been replaced by the Trinidad Scorpion Butch Taylor since 2011 , which is only named the hottest chili in the world in the 2012 edition of the Guinness Book of Records. The Chile Pepper Institute in New Mexico has taken note of the measurements of the Trinidad Scorpion Butch Taylor, but initially continued to list the Bhut Jolokia as the hottest chilli in the world because the usual scientific measurement methods were not followed. In 2012, however, the title was awarded to the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion variety.

etymology

The different names that are used for this extremely hot chili all refer to the same variety, they can be traced back to different local names in northeast India. 'Bhut Jolokia' means something like “ghost chili”, 'Bih Jolokia' means “poison chili” and the name 'Naga Jolokia' refers to the Naga people who are known to be warlike and the inhabitants of the state of Nagaland . Reports from India, however, assume that the translation of ' Bhut ' to 'spirit' is only an interpretation of Western scientists and that the name can be traced back to the origin of the chilli from Bhutan .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Paul W. Bosland and Jit B. Baral: 'Bhut Jolokia' - The World's Hottest Known Chile Pepper is a Putative Naturally Occurring Interspecific Hybrid. ( Memento from July 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: Horticultural Science. Volume 42, Number 2, 2007, pp. 222-224.
  2. ↑ What Carolina Reaper does to you , on the welt.de website , accessed on March 3, 2017
  3. ↑ Carolina Reaper chilli variety , on the website chilipflanzen.com , accessed on March 3, 2017
  4. ↑ Hottest chili , on the website guinessrecords.com , accessed on March 3, 2017
  5. ↑ a b c Dave DeWitt and Paul W. Bosland: Top Hundred (Or So) Chile Peppers for the Garden . In: The Complete Chile Pepper Book , Timber Press, Portland, London, 2009. pp. 17-65. ISBN 978-0-88192-920-1 .
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h Raktim Ranjan Bhagowati and Sapu Changkija: Genetic Variability and Traditional Practices in Naga King Chili Landraces of Nagaland. ( Memento of the original from July 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Asian Agri-History , Volume 13, Number 3, 2009. pp. 171-180.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.agri-history.org
  7. ↑ Chile Pepper Institute: Special Bhut Jolokia Tips ( Memento of May 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) , online, accessed on January 31, 2010.
  8. ↑ a b Ritesh Mathur, RS Dangi, SC Dass and RC Malhotra: The hottest chilli variety in India. In: Current Science , Volume 79, Number 3, August 2000. pp. 287-288.
  9. ↑ Akhilesh Tiwari et al .: Adaptability and production of hottest chilli variety under Gwalior agro-climatic conditions . In: Current Science , Volume 88, Number 10, May 2005. pp. 1545-1546.
  10. ↑ India plans hot chilli grenades . In: BBC Online , June 25, 2009, accessed February 20, 2010.
  11. ↑ a b Dave DeWitt and Paul W. Bosland: Capsaicin and the Quest for the World's hottest Pepper . In: The Complete Chile Pepper Book , Timber Press, Portland, London, 2009. pp. 156-163. ISBN 978-0-88192-920-1 .
  12. ↑ K. Sanatombi, S. Sen-Mandi and GJ Sharma: DNA profiling of Capsicum landraces of Manipur . In: Scienta Horticulturae , 2010. doi : 10.1016 / j.scienta.2010.01.006
  13. ^ New Mexican State University: NMSU is home to the world's hottest chile pepper ( Memento of February 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) , press release, February 2007. Online, accessed on January 31, 2010.
  14. ↑ Justin Bannister: Chile Pepper Institute Names Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Hottest Pepper. ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. NMSU, February 16, 2012, accessed February 6, 2014 (PDF). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chilepepperinstitute.org
  15. ↑ Manoj Anand: Assam's mirch will help make chilli grenade. In: The Asian Age , online, accessed January 31, 2010.