Chili farmer Gerald Fowler, who is, inexplicably, English, has grown the hottest chili pepper in the world: The Naga Viper, which, at 1,359,000 on the heat-measuring Scoville scale, is 270 times hotter than a jalapeño.

The Guinness Book of World Records, the world's leading authority on important things, has certified the Naga Viper as hotter than the previous record-holder, which had the frankly more awesome name of "bhut jolokia," or "Ghost Pepper." (Ghost pepper! Doesn't it give you chills?)

Fowler is a full-time chili farmer in Cumbria, England, and runs a company called, imaginatively, the Chilli Pepper Company. Here's how he sells his creation:

‘It's painful to eat... It's hot enough to strip paint. ‘It numbs your tongue, then burns all the way down. It can last an hour, and you just don't want to talk to anyone or do anything. But it's a marvellous endorphin rush. It makes you feel great.'

Sounds awesome!

[Daily Mail]