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Naga King Chilli

The ghost pepper. Over 1,000,000 Scoville Heat Units, GI-tagged as Naga Mircha in 2008, and grown on smallholdings across the Nagaland hills where nothing about the crop has been industrialised.

1,000,000+

Scoville Heat Units

Botanical name: Capsicum chinense × frutescens
Known as: Raja MirchaBhut Jolokia
Origin: Nagaland hills
Harvest: July – September

Bright red chilli peppers on a wooden surface

The story

Origin25°40′ N

KohimaNagaland

Nagaland94°07′ E

Naga King Chilli — raja mircha, bhut jolokia, the ghost pepper — is renowned globally for extreme heat exceeding one million Scoville Heat Units. It was recognised as the world's hottest chilli and remains permanently in the top five.

It received its Geographical Indication in 2008 from the GI Registry in Chennai, making the name Naga Mircha exclusive to chillies grown in the region. In 2021 a GI-certified consignment was exported from Nagaland to London via Guwahati for the first time — a small shipment, but the one that opened the route.

Nothing about this crop is grown at scale. It comes off smallholdings in the hills, is dried above the hearth as often as in the sun, and reaches the trade in quantities that are measured in quintals rather than containers. Buy it for what it is, not for what you wish the volume were.

[ Why here ]

KohimaNagaland

Humid hill country in the north-east with heavy monsoon rain and warm nights. The capsaicin load is a product of that heat and humidity — the same variety grown on the plains reads materially milder.

Specification

GI · 2008

Registered as Naga Mircha with the GI Registry, Chennai.

Measured