Some like it hot, but some like it REALLY hot.
For those that think that the Carolina Reaper is a little too soft, we present “Pepper X”, the current hottest pepper on the planet.
Pepper X boasts 2,693,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), which is one million units more than the previous reigning champ Reaper.
The Scoville scale measures the intensity of chili peppers and other spicy foods by determining how much dilution is required to neutralize their heat. Heat is generally caused by the molecule capsaicin, which is found in the tissue of many hot chilis and serves to bind pain receptors to the mouth. Those pain receptors tell the brain to coordinate a response to the cause of said pain, and get the invading substance out of the body as soon as possible. This results in symptoms such as watering eyes, runny nose, and sweat.
The intensity of that response is measured by the Scoville scale.
Pepper X’s 2,693,000 Scoville Heat Units would take almost 2.7 million cups of sugar water to offset the pain of one cup of chili extract.
We can credit Ed Currie of PuckerButt Pepper Company for the latest world’s hottest pepper, and its not his first foray into ferocious heat. Currie also developed the Carolina Reaper, crowned world’s hottest pepper in 2013, which took the honors with 1,569,300 SHU. Other well-known spice kings include the habanero, which measure in at 100,000-350,000 SHU, and of course the lowly jalapeños, with a tiny 4,000 to 8,500 SHU.
Currie developed the pepper across ten years at his farm in Fort Mill, South Carolina, cross-breeding Carolina Reapers with other “brutally hot” peppers.
The unique body of the pepper, which is heavily curved and rigid, allows for more capsaicin to hide in its tissue, also known as placenta, allowing for the extreme heat.
After eating a whole Pepper X, Currie said he was “laid out flat on a marble wall for approximately an hour in the rain, groaning in pain.”
Maybe because of that, the pepper is not currently available as a chili or seed – though you can try it for yourself by purchasing one of Currie’s custom hot sauces.
An hour of groaning in pain? Sign me up?
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