The world’s hottest chilli is so dangerous it will be sold with an 18 certificate, it has emerged.
And the creators of the super-hot Infinity chilli are so concerned about its strength they are advising people to wear GLOVES when handling it.
Tests by Warwick University confirmed the chilli – grown in rainy Grantham, Lincs., – measured a staggering 1,067,286 on the Scoville Scale which is used to rate the heat of peppers.
It out-stripped the former world record holding chilli, the Indian Bhut Jolokia, which measured 1,041,427 and was so hot it was used to control riots by the Indian Army.
The Lincolnshire variety, grown by chilli farmers Woody Woods, 37, and pal Matt Simpson, 38, is named after it’s ”never-ending” burn.
Woody, who has been growing chillis for four years, said: ”It is the hottest thing anyone will put in their mouth.
”It feels like your tongue is in hell and your mouth is going melt.
”We are very proud that we have created this beast but we are genuinely concerned about it getting into the wrong hands.
”Youngsters especially might not fully understand the power of the chill which is why we’ve decided to put an 18 certificate on the chilli when we sell it later this year.”
And Woody, who gave up a career with the MoD at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland, Leics., to grow hot chilli peppers, admits he came close to needing hospital treatment himself just weeks ago.
He said: ”I was handling some of the seeds from the Infinity chilli and went to the toilet without washing my hands first.
”I was in absolute agony for more than an hour. It was like someone had set fire to my privates.
”I had frozen bags of sweetcorn on there and the fan going full tilt but the scorching pain wouldn’t let up.
”It took ages to get back to normal and I was seriously considering calling an ambulance at one point.”
Woody cultivated the chilli in one of his polytunnels at his farm in Grantham, Lincs., after cross-pollinating it with other firey varieties.
He said: ”To grow such a burning hot chilli in our climate is unbelievable.
”The chillis all grow next to each other and the seeds cross over and often mutate.
”I knew we had something special with this one because it was knobbly and bobbly and the liquid inside looked vicious.”
Super-hot chillis can trigger heart attacks and in 2008 trainee chef Andrew Lee, 33, died after challenging his pal to a competition to eat a scorching chilli sauce.
