Naga Viper the Cobra of Chillies

Three super hot chillies packed into one small red package, sounds a lot like a headache. Unless you are a huge chilli lover chasing down your next challenge.

The Naga Viper is a fiery combination of the Trinidad Scorpion, the Naga Morich and the Ghost Pepper. The combination of these three chillies makes for a searing sting to your taste buds. In Sanskrit Naga means cobra snake and as we know in English, a viper is a family of venomous snakes. So the name of this chilli is your first warning towards the sting of this chilli’s heat.

Where was it made?

Wind back to 2010 and your hottest spices on the market were the Trinidad Scorpion, the Naga Morich and the Ghost Pepper. If you wanted to step up the game and create the hottest chilli on record, the solutions sounds simple right? Combine them together!

Chilli lover, Gerald Fowler who lives on a farm over in Cumbria, Northern England, decided to take up this challenge. In 2010 he crosses these three scorching peppers and produces the Naga Viper.

According to Mr Fowler, the big secret to the chilli’s heat, is in the way it’s grown. The plant is purposely put under stress to produce the hottest chilli version possible. So when you are suffering stress from eating the Naga Viper just remember that the poor chilli plant has suffered as well!

By the end of 2010, Mr Fowler’s work paid off and the Naga Viper overtook the Ghost Pepper as the hottest chilli pepper in the world. It didn’t hold this position for long as a year later it was overtaken by the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, a cultivar of the very own Trinidad Scorpion used in the Viper.

How many Scoville Heat Units does it measure?

The Viper ranges between 900,000 - 1.4 million SHU. That’s four times hotter than a Habanero and 300,000 more than the Ghost Pepper. Today the hottest pepper on record is the Carolina Reaper, measuring more than 2 million SHU. But before you even consider a taste of the Reaper, make sure you’ve mastered the Viper.

How does it feel?

To know how it feels, It’s important to remember how the Naga Viper was created. The Trinidad Scorpion is known simply for its heat. We’re telling you, it’s spicy. Yet it’s a heat that will build and build until your body is ablaze. Now the Naga Morich and the Ghost Pepper are cousins, each initially bursting with sweetness; a floral sweetness from the Morich and a more earthy sense from the Ghost Pepper. However, the trick with these peppers is that the burn arrives half a minute after consumption. So between these three killers you’ll have plenty of heat. In the first ten seconds you might underestimate your tolerance, but give it a minute and you will be wreathing on the floor.

Do you dare?

If you’re still up for the challenge after reading our warnings, the best place to go, is its place of origin. In London you can head to The Red Dog Saloon, sign a disclaimer and in ten minutes attempt to finish six chicken wings slathered in the naga viper sauce with no other food or drink to tame the burn.

To find out more about other chilli favourites

Image courtesy of: WhKhioter via Wikimedia Commons