Move aside, Carolina Reaper. Pepper X is now officially the world's hottest chili pepper

Amaris Encinas, USA TODAY
Updated ·3 min read
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The Carolina Reaper has been officially dethroned as the world’s hottest chili pepper.

PuckerButt Pepper Co. founder and pepper expert Ed Currie has spent the past 10 years working on Pepper X, a chili pepper that emits an “immediate and brutal heat,” according to reporting by the Associated Press.

Five of those years were spent proving Pepper X was a different plant with different fruit and documenting its average heat over different plants and generations.

“We covered the genetics, we covered the chemistry, we covered the botany,” Currie shared.

Pepper X, which has a rating of 2,693,000 Scoville Heat Units was named hottest chili pepper in the world by Guinness World Records on Oct. 9.

The heat of the pepper lingered with Currie hours after he completed his initial taste test.

“I was feeling the heat for 3½ hours. 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,” Currie shared with The Associated Press.

The greenish-yellow Pepper X has an earthy flavor unlike the spicy-sweet taste found in the bright red Carolina Reaper. Pepper X was crossbred with a Carolina Reaper and a pepper from Michigan that is “brutally hot,” Currie said.

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Pepper X makes first appearance on 'Hot Ones'

Currie chose to unveil Pepper X on “Hot Ones,” a YouTube talk show where celebrities are interviewed over an assortment of spicy chicken wings.

He was joined by the show’s host Sean Evans, Claus Pilgaard “Chili Klaus” and Noah Chaimberg from Heatonist, the hot sauce company that partners with Hot Ones to source their hot sauce lineup.

Currie talks all things Pepper X, receives his Guinness World Records plaque and facilitates a Pepper X taste test to end the video.

“There’s an intense burn that happens immediately. Then your head kind of feels like ‘Oh, no. What’s going on?’ Then your body just starts reacting. You get it in your arms. You get it in your chest. It has no real throat burn like the Reaper but that comes on later when you are in pain,” Currie says in the video.

Worlds Hottest Pepper Ed Currie holds up his certification that his new Pepper X variety of peppers is the hottest in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records on Oct. 10 in Fort Mill, S.C.
Worlds Hottest Pepper Ed Currie holds up his certification that his new Pepper X variety of peppers is the hottest in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records on Oct. 10 in Fort Mill, S.C.

How does Pepper X measure up on the Scoville scale?

An employee in a Carolina Reaper shirt looks over one of Ed Currie's greenhouses on Oct. 10 in Fort Mill, S.C. Currie has created a new pepper called Pepper X that how now been named the hottest pepper in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, taking the title from Currie's Carolina Reaper.
An employee in a Carolina Reaper shirt looks over one of Ed Currie's greenhouses on Oct. 10 in Fort Mill, S.C. Currie has created a new pepper called Pepper X that how now been named the hottest pepper in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, taking the title from Currie's Carolina Reaper.

The Scoville scale measures the spiciness of chili peppers numerically based on the pepper’s capsaicin concentration, which causes a burning sensation when it comes into contact with human tissue, according to Guinness.

The burning sensation produced by capsaicin also releases endorphins and dopamine into the body, AP reported.

Currie, who began to grow peppers after overcoming substance abuse addictions, says the kick from the peppers is akin to a natural high.

He has shared his inventions with medical professionals in the hopes of helping people who suffer from chronic pain or discomfort.

Currie has hinted at the possibility of pepper hybrids much hotter than Pepper X but has kept his cards close to the vest.

“Is this the pinnacle?” Currie said of Pepper X, a mischievous smile warming his face. “No, it’s not the pinnacle,” AP reported.

Winthrop University in South Carolina spent the last four years conducting tests on specimens to determine Pepper X’s Scoville score.

Here’s how Pepper X compares to other chili peppers in Scoville Heat Units:

◾ Jalapeños (3,000-8,000)

◾ Habanero (100,000-350,000)

◾ Carolina Reaper (on average 1.64 million )

◾ Pepper X ( 2.693 million)

Contrary to popular belief, the seeds of a pepper pod don’t make it hot. Capsaicin is held in the placenta, or the tissue that holds the seeds.

Peppers aren’t the only thing that have a Scoville score, pepper spray has a score of 1.6 million Scoville Heat Units while bear spray has a score of 2.2 million Scoville Heat Units, respectively, the AP reported.

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Contributing: Jeffrey Collins, Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Guinness World Records names Pepper X hottest chili pepper in the world