A new pepper has now officially dethroned the Carolina Reaper chilli pepper. Pepper X has now been crowned by the Guinness World Records as the “world’s hottest pepper”. Pepper X is a chilli from South Carolina that registers at 2.69 million Scoville Heat Units, even defeating Pepper Spray, which registers at 1.6 million SHU. This new spiciest chilli in the world has been curated by Ed Currie, who said, “I was feeling the heat for three-and-a-half hours,” after he consumed it.
According to the Guinness World Records, the distinctive twists and contours of Pepper X offer a larger surface area for the placenta to develop. Making its debut on the online show Hot Ones, where participants take on the challenge of eating 10 increasingly spicy wings, this greenish-yellow pepper gained attention.
Currie, one of only five people to have tried this fiery creation, recounted his ordeal, sharing, “Those cramps are unbearable. I found myself flat on a marble wall for about an hour, enduring the pain in the pouring rain,” as reported by the New York Post.
The creator of Pepper X has dedicated more than ten years to its cultivation and is determined to safeguard his intellectual property. He stated that they have thoroughly explored the aspects of genetics, chemistry, and botany. Currie also emphasized the importance of ensuring that his family and employees benefit from the product before any seeds are made available for purchase. Currently, only hot sauces incorporating Pepper X will be on the market.
This intense chilli pepper is the result of crossbreeding the Carolina Reaper with a secret hot chilli that Currie received from a friend in Michigan. Despite a decade of work on Pepper X, Currie insists that it’s “not the peak,” expressing his desire to develop even hotter chilli peppers in the future.