Indian woman aims for hot chilli record

An Indian woman hopes to get into the record books by eating a huge amount of the world's hottest pepper.

Anandita Dutta Tamuly, 26, aims to eat as many Bhut Jolokia peppers as she can in one sitting. The current record was set by South African Anita Crafford, who ate eight jalapeños in a minute in 2002.

Tamuly is a lifelong fan of the Bhut Jolokia or 'ghost' chili pepper - rated about 100 times as hot as a jalapeno.

She said: "Such is the hotness of this chili that it can drive away the ghost and hence the name."

Tamuly says she got hooked on the chillis as a child after her mother smeared chili paste on her tongue to cure an infection. Tamuly, who will attempt to create a new record in London, added: "I have already created history on Indian television by munching 60 of the chilies in two minutes. I am more than confident of creating a record."

She is currently awaiting a British visa to make the trip.

The 'ghost' pepper clocks slightly more than one million Scoville units, almost twice as hot as the previous reigning champ, the Red Savina habanero. An average jalapeno, used widely in salsa, measures only about 10 000 heat units, www.int.iol.co.za reports.