‘Pepper X’ Has Been Crowned World’s Hottest Chili Pepper
Clocking in at a truly absurd 2.69 million Scoville Heat Units.
Pepper X has officially dethroned the Carolina Reaper as the hottest chili pepper on the planet.
The Guinness Book of World Records-certified Pepper X was created by Ed Currie, a South Carolina hot pepper obsessive who previously crossbred and grew the Carolina Reaper to become the world’s hottest pepper. But his latest creation, Pepper X, is somehow up to three times hotter.
Just how hot is Pepper X? A regular jalapeno clocks in at about 5,000 Scoville Heat Units and a habanero—which held the world record 25 years ago—typically tops 100,000. The Carolina Reaper changed the game with a tongue-torching 1.64 million units, while Pepper X brings the pain with a truly absurd 2.69 million.
By comparison, police-issued pepper spray is about 1.6 million units and bear spray is typically listed at 2.2 million units, per the Associated Press.
The greenish-yellow Pepper X reportedly carries “an earthy flavor once its heat is delivered” and is a crossbreed of a Carolina Reaper and what Currie cryptically described to the AP as a “pepper that a friend of mine sent me from Michigan that was brutally hot.”
“Ed cultivated Pepper X on his farm for over 10 years, cross breeding it with some of his hottest peppers to increase its capsaicin content,” Guinness said of the pepper on its website.
Currie revealed Pepper X to the world on an episode of the popular YouTube series, Hot Ones. Before that he was the only person on the planet who had eaten an entire Pepper X, and the experience sounds terrifying to say the least.
“I was feeling the heat for three-and-a-half hours,” he told the AP. “Then the cramps came. Those cramps are horrible. I was laid out flat on a marble wall for approximately an hour in the rain, groaning in pain.”
As of now, you can only try the world’s hottest pepper by buying one of PuckerButt’s Pepper X-infused hot sauces, wing sauce, or salsa. “Everybody else made their money off the Reaper,” Currie told the AP. “It’s time for us to reap the benefits of the hard work I do.”