If you are cooking with hot chillis such as habanero in particular, it is best to wear gloves. They have been known to blister skin. There is also the danger of rubbing your eyes - the only cure for which is repeated rinsing with water or saline solution. If you get any on your skin, rub with alcohol before bathing in milk.

Why are chillis hot?

The responsible agent is an alkaloid called capsaicin, which the plants may have developed as a survival strategy.

The theory is that the heat deters mammals from munching them and destroying the seeds in their intestinal tract, leaving dispersal to non heat-sensitive birds.

The species obviously didn't plan for mammals becoming hooked on pain - and those who also just happen to be it's most enthusiastic preservers.

Chilli strength is measured by Scoville Heat units (SHU), named after chemist William Scoville and based on the dilution of chilli samples until heat is no longer detected by a taster. The higher the SHUs' the hotter the burn.

On the Scoville scale, a bell pepper has zero units, a relatively mild jalapeno may have between 5,000 and 40,000, while the habanero leaves it's tame cousin a long way behind with a rating of 200,000.

"That's right at the top - as high as it goes. Most people would never eat those as a raw fruit" says Richard Anderson.

The best way to counteract the burning is to drink milk or eat yoghurt, or any dairy product because the casein helps disrupt the reaction.

The hottest part of the pepper is not - as widely believed - the seeds, but the membrane which holds them and from which they can absorb capsaicin.