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The world's hottest chili was recognized Friday after it was grown in a snow-covered greenhouse in northwestern England, beating competition from Mexico and India.

Gerald Fowler, a full-time chili farmer based in Cark-in-Cartmel, Cumbria, crossed three of the hottest varieties to produce the fiercest pods ever 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. The most popular chili, jalapeno, measures just 2,500 to 5,000.

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Experts at Warwick University tested the chili, and Guinness World Records approached Fowler to include it in its 2012 edition.

"When chilies are grown over here, I think they fight back against the harsh climate and produce even more heat," Fowler said. "It's painful to eat. 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 makes you feel great."