BRITAIN is many things  —  small(ish), damp for most of the year, green, prone to electing idiots  —  but one thing it’s not really famous for is chilli. Well, at least I’d never connected my home country to the small red things that make a lot of food inedible for me. But apparently the UK is now famous for producing the Naga Viper, which has just been recognised as the the world’s hottest chilli.

Even more amazing is that it was grown in Cumbria by Gerald Fowler, who grew it in his small greenhouse by crossing the previous hottest chilli, Bhut Jolokia, with two other varieties, […]