威爾士農場主培植出世界上最辣的辣椒

A Welsh fruit grower trying to come up with a novel entry for next week's Chelsea Flower Show has accidentally created the hottest chilli ever recorded.

威爾士一位果農原本想爲參加下週的切爾西鮮花展而開發一種新辣椒品種，卻無意中培育出了世界上有記載以來的最辣辣椒。

Mike Smith, from Denbighshire, declared himself "chuffed" if a little "surprised" after scientists indicated that his Dragon's Breath chilli had eclipsed the existing American record holder by a clear margin.

來自登比郡的邁克·史密斯稱，在科學家表示他的“龍吐氣”辣椒令當前世界紀錄的美國保持者黯然失色後，他有點“驚訝”，但也感到十分“開心”。

Originally intended to be a thing of beauty rather than a sensory beast, the peppers measure a formidable 2.48 million on the Scoville heat scale, ahead of the 2.2 million achieved by the Carolina Reaper.

培育這些辣椒原本是爲了美觀，而不是給味蕾帶來狂野的感受。它們的斯科維爾辣度指數高達令人膽寒的248萬，領先於“卡羅來納收割機”曾達到的220萬。

But the 53-year-old insisted he had never set out to breed a particularly hot-tasting plant, and that he is not even a fan of spicy food.

現年53歲的史密斯堅稱，他此前從未培育過特別辣的植物，他甚至不愛吃辣。

The one-metre-high tree was last Wednesday night being installed at the Royal Horticultural Society's London showground, where it will be in contention for the Plant of the Year award.

這株1米高的植物於上週三晚被放置在皇家園藝學會的倫敦展覽場地，它將在那裏參加“年度植物”角逐。

It was grown in collaboration with scientists from Nottingham Trent University, who believe oil from the chilli's is so potent it could act as an alternative anaesthetic for those allergic to conventional drugs.

它是史密斯與英國諾丁漢特倫特大學的科學家合作培育的，他們認爲這種辣椒製取的油威力強大，對常規藥物過敏的人可以用它來替代麻醉劑。

Mr Smith described discovering the ferocious heat of his home-grown plant.

史密斯描述了發現這種自培植物辣度之猛烈的過程。

"I've tried it on the tip of my tongue and it just burned and burned," he said. "I spat it out in about 10 seconds. The heat intensity just grows."

他說：“我用舌尖嚐了一點，感覺越來越辣。大約10秒後我就把它吐了出來。這種辣的感覺越來越強烈。”

Experts believe that anyone who attempted to swallow one of the chilli peppers would be at risk of death from anaphylactic shock.

專家認爲，要是吞下一顆這種辣椒，任何人都有可能因過敏性休克而死亡。

"It was a complete accident but I'm chuffed to bits - it's a lovely looking tree," said Mr Smith, who has been competitively show-gardening for eight years.

已參加過8年園藝比賽的史密斯先生說：“這完全是偶然得來，但我非常開心--這是一株外觀討人喜歡的小樹。”