In March, the Indian military recruited the world's hottest chili pepper for use in its anti-terrorism arsenal.
Grown in northeastern India and Bangladesh, the bhut jolokia measures at 1,000,000 Scoville units and held the Guinness record for the Spiciest Thing In The World. (By comparison, regular Tabasco sauce has a Scoville rating of 2,500 to 5,000). Locals call it the "ghost pepper," because apparently even the ghosts stay away from it.
According to the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation, the pepper is "much more potent than normal tear gas." One distributor of the chili worried that it would be an unfair weapon.
Monitor correspondent Taylor Barnes, who nibbled on one of the chilis and sweated for 30 minutes afterward, sees his point.
On Dec. 3, Guinness World Records noted that the bhut jolokia has been surpassed by the Naga Viper pepper, a British crossbreed of the jolokia and the trinidad hybrid. The viper comes in at 1,359,000 Scoville units.
What we learned: If you're going to attempt to overthrow the Indian government, be sure to bring lots of ice cream.
