Bhut jolokia  The Bhut jolokia (IPA: [ˈbʱʊt.zɔˌlɔkiˌja]), also known as ghost pepper, ghost chili pepper, or ghost chili is an interspecific hybrid chili pepper cultivated in Northeast India. It is a hybrid of "Capsicum chinense" and "Capsicum frutescens" and is closely related to the Naga Morich. In 2007, "Guinness World Records" certified that the ghost pepper was the world's hottest chili pepper, 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. The ghost chili is rated at more than 1 million Scoville Heat Units (SHUs). However, in the race to grow the hottest pepper, the ghost chili was superseded by the Infinity chili in 2011 and Carolina Reaper in 2013. In 2000, India's Defence Research Laboratory (DRL) reported a Scoville rating of 855,000 SHUs, and in 2004 a rating of 1,041,427 SHUs was made using HPLC analysis. For comparison, Tabasco red pepper sauce rates at 2,500–5,000, and pure capsaicin (the chemical responsible for the pungency of pepper plants) rates at 16,000,000 SHUs. In 2005, New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute in Las Cruces, New Mexico, found Bhut jolokia grown from seed in southern New Mexico to have a Scoville rating of 1,001,304 SHUs by HPLC. Unlike most peppers, Bhut jolokia produces capsaicin in vesicles found in both the placenta around the seeds and throughout the fruit, rather than just the placenta. Ripe peppers measure long and wide with a red, yellow, orange, or chocolate color. The unselected strain of Bhut jolokia from India is an extremely variable plant, with a wide range in fruit sizes and fruit production per plant, and offers a huge potential for developing much better strains through selection in the future. Bhut jolokia pods are unique among peppers, with their characteristic shape, and very thin skin. However, the red fruit variety has two different fruit types, the rough, dented fruit and the smooth fruit. The images on this page show examples of both the rough and the smooth fruit. The rough fruit plants are taller, with more fragile branches, and the smooth fruit plants yields more fruit, and is a more compact plant with sturdier branches.