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New Mexico State University

Faculty

Regents Professor Paul Bosland researches, teaches about, and, of course, taste-tests chile peppers
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Regents Professor Paul Bosland researches, teaches about, and, of course, taste-tests chile peppers.

When Paul Bosland exhaled after taking a bite of the world’s hottest chile pepper, it felt like he was breathing fire. “Got milk?” he thought.

After gulping down a soda (milk was not available) the next thing Bosland thought was, “That chile has got to be some kind of record.” He was right. In fall of 2006, the Guinness Book of Records confirmed that Bosland had indeed discovered the world’s hottest chile pepper, Bhut Jolokia.

Bosland leads the university’s chile breeding and genetic research program and is director of the Chile Pepper Institute, a research and educational center located at NMSU. He has won numerous awards for his research and with good-humored patience lends his chile pepper expertise to a wide variety of national and international media.

The world’s hottest chile pepper is by no means the first pepper variety Bosland has discovered at New Mexico State University – since 1988 he has released more than 25 cultivated varieties, or cultivars. These include a mild jalapeño pepper and a variety of habañero chile, called “NuMex Suave,” that retains the unique habañero flavors without the heat.

Yet Bosland is not only a researcher. He is also a highly respected teacher, working in the classroom, the lab and field to share with undergraduate and graduate students alike his excitement and knowledge about plant breeding and genetics.