Nagaland exports king chilli to London for the first time

Exporting fresh King Chilli posed a challenge because of its highly perishable nature

In a major boost to exports of Geographical Indications (GI) products from the north-eastern region, a consignment of ‘Raja Mircha’ also referred as king chilli from Nagaland has been exported to London via Guwahati by air for the first time.

The consignment of King Chilli ais lso considered as world’s hottest based on the Scoville Heat Units (SHUs). The consignment was sourced from Tening, part of Peren district, Nagaland and was packed at the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) assisted packhouse at Guwahati. 

The chilli from Nagaland is also referred as Bhoot Jolokia and Ghost pepper. It got GI certification in 2008.

APEDA in collaboration with the Nagaland State Agricultural Marketing Board (NSAMB) coordinated the first export consignment of fresh King Chilli. APEDA had coordinated with NSAMB in sending samples for laboratory testing in June and July 2021 and the results were encouraging as it is grown organically but exporting fresh King Chilli posed a challenge because of its highly perishable nature.

Nagaland King Chilli belongs to genus Capsicum of family Solanaceae. Naga king chilli has been considered as the world’s hottest chilli and is constantly on the top five in the list of the world’s hottest chilies based on the SHUs.