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, […]