Beware the burn of the Capsicum chinense!

The habanero chilli pepper is native to South America. With its distinct fragrance and flavour, it is enjoyed by many people as a condiment, and its varieties include some of the world’s hottest chillies, writes Bill Kerr.

- Bill Kerr.

This habanero chilli plant has achieved a good yield and is ready to be harvested. BILL KERR

The Red Savina pepper is a cultivar of the habanero chilli (Capsicum chinense). It was once listed in Guinness World Records as the hottest chilli, with a Scoville heat unit (SHU) rating of 577 000.

A report reached Dr Paul Bosland at the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University in the US that the Naga Jolokia, a habanero variety commonly referred to as the ghost pepper, had been recorded in India at about 900 000 SHUs. Sceptical, he went to India to check it out and found this variety had a rating of over one million SHUs! Upon his return to the US, he planted Naga Jolokia alongside Red Savina in a tunnel and found the former to be three times as hot.

C. chinense originated in South America and is known to have been cultivated from at least 7500BC.