Gerald Fowler, a full-time chilli farmer for five years, crossed three of the hottest varieties to produce the fiercest pods known to man.
His Naga Viper rates an astonishing 1,359,000 on the Scoville scale, which measures heat by the presence of the chemical compound capsaicin.
Experts at Warwick University tested the chilli and the Guinness Book of World Records approached Gerald to include it their 2012 edition as the world's hottest.
‘When they grow chilli in India or the Caribbean they're used to the heat and the drought. When they're grown over here I think they fight back against the harsher climate and produce even more heat,’ said Gerald.
He sells the chilli as a sauce but says he's getting most interest from growers keen to get their hands on the seeds.
"It's painful to eat," said Gerald, 52, who runs the Chilli Pepper Company, in Cark-in-Cartmel.
‘It's hot enough to strip paint.’
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