Feeling hot, hot, hot? Well, Nicky Woods certainly is, last month, the 37 year-old from Grantham in Lincolnshire harvested what he believed to be the world's hottest chilli.

Subsequent tests by the University of Warwickshire have shown the chilli to be 1,067,286 on the Scoville Scale, a rating scale used to measure the heat of chilli peppers (tabasco sauce is just 5,000 on the scale).

In tribute to the discovery of the most piquant of peppers, flight comparison site Skyscanner takes a look at the top 5 extreme foods around the world.

The hottest

Nicky Woods and his wife Zoe, co-founders of Fire Foods, have named their world record chilli ‘Infinity' in tribute to the lingering and substantial blast of heat the chilli provides. The Infinity chilli is available as a sauce in 150ml bottles for those who are brave enough to unleash the heat.

The smelliest

In 2004, scientists at a Bedfordshire university developed an electronic nose to analyse cheese odours and, along with a panel of 19 humans, found Vieux Boulogne, a soft cheese from northern France, to be the world's smelliest. Vieux Boulogne was found to be stronger even than the Epoisses de Bourgogne, a cheese so smelly that is actually banned from public transport in France.

The most dangerous

An age-old Japanese delicacy, Fugu (pufferfish) carries the additional threat of being deadly if prepared incorrectly. The fish contains lethal amounts of poison in its organs, specifically its liver and ovaries. Though statistics vary, Fugu is thought to have an average fatality rate of 6.8%, with most of these cases attributed to amateur fisherman eating their own catch.

The most expensive

Cristiano Savini, a truffle hunter from Tuscany in northern Italy, made his finest discovery in January 2007 when he uncovered a huge 3.3 pound white truffle. Cristiano and his father, Luciano, found the truffle with their dog Rocco, and sold it soon afterwards at a casino auction in Macau for a whopping $330,000. If the luxury auctions are a little of your league, Piedmont in Italy is said to have the world's best truffles.

The naughtiest

Sushi is renowned for its colourful, artistic presentation, which is very much considered to be an art form in Japan. Some eating establishments take the art form to a new level, with Nyataimori, which sees sushi served on the body of a naked woman. However, restaurants serving Nyataimori (or the male equivalent, Nantaimori) are thought to be extremely rare, and the dish can carry a hefty price tag.  

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