It was created by specialist grower Nick Woods from Lincolnshire, England. And he grew the Infinity in a bid to win the Guinness world record of hottest chilli pepper.
And he was successful, in February 2011 he snatched the record. However, the Infinity chilli pepper only topped the list for two weeks. Its short lived reign came to an end after the Naga Viper chilli was discovered to be hotter.
Although an experienced chilli pepper grower, Woods did not create fiery Infinity on purpose. Crossbreeding in his growing greenhouse took place between some of his other varieties, and the Infinity was born.
Heat
Measuring 1.17 million on the Scoville Scale, the Infinity chilli pepper is an absolute scorcher. Just as Woods bred it to be.
To give you some idea of how hot this is, a Jalapeno typically scores between 2,500 and 8,000. This means that the Infinity is on average over 139 times hotter than the hottest Jalapeno!
Taste And Texture
Like other Habanero style peppers, the Infinity is a wrinkled, bulbous shaped pepper with skin that is rough to the touch. It reddens with maturity, and grows a tail-like point at the bottom. And the Infinity will grow up to around 2 inches in length.
The Infinity chilli pepper is used in culinary, and for those daring enough, can be added to a curry for a smoking hot meal.
So how does it taste? Well when you first bite into it, the taste is fruity, and some say even sweet.
But the infinity chilli pepper is not to be messed with. It has a delayed onset, and once the full flame kicks in, the pain gets real. Woods himself said that the back of his throat burned so badly that he could not speak, and that he began shaking uncontrollably.
Interesting Fact
A restaurant in Woods’ hometown of Grantham served a curry prepared using 20 infinity chilli peppers. The restaurant claimed it to be the world’s hottest curry, and hundreds of people took on the challenge of eating it.
The first person to finish a dish took a little over an hour. The chilli peppers created such an endorphin rush in the customer’s body, that he hallucinated for 10 minutes after finishing the challenge!
