The "Trinidad Scorpion Butch T" chilli, a mere 2.5 cm (1 inch) long, comes it at a fiery 1.46 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU) per chilli, according to testing by Melbourne firm EML Chemical taking it well past the Naga Viper British Chilli, the current Guinness record-holder at 1.38 million SHU. By comparison, a jalapeno pepper contains anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000 SHU.

"I had hallucinations, I had to lie down, I couldn't walk for 20 minutes, dizzy," said Marcel de Wit, one of a group of men who developed and grew the incendiary vegetable, about eating a raw Trinidad Scorpion Butch T.

"This chilli was so severe. I will never, ever do it again, I can tell you that." Processing the chilli, first harvested earlier this year at Morisett, a town nearly 89 km north of Sydney, requires the utmost care.