![]() ![]() As well as livening up dishes, the heat also makes the body produce pleasurable endorphins afterwards.įormer record holder the Bhut Jolokia chilli registers at just over 800,000 SHU – potent enough for the Indian military to use it as an ingredient in a counter-terrorism hand grenade used for immobilising adversaries. The heat comes from the substance "capsaicin" which is found in all chillies. While commonly referred to as vegetables, chillies are in fact fruit from the plant genus "Capsicum". To give an indication of the Carolina Reaper’s spiciness, a Jalapeno can score anything between 2,500 to 8,000 SHU on the scale. "So I've been researching how not to die."Ĭhilli heat is measured by the Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) designed by American chemist Wilbur Scoville in 1912. "My family dies from cancer a lot," Ed explains. His record-breaking Carolina Reaper has been ten years in the making, having meticulously worked on stabilising and testing the pepper, which is a crossing between Sweet Habanero and Naga Viper chillies.Įd says his interest in chillies became more serious after learning that capsaicin had potential as a cancer fighting drug, a discovery which led to him donating one-half of his pepper harvest last year to cancer research. Having started growing chillies as a hobby over 20 years ago, Ed quit his job last year to concentrate full time on cultivating his “weapon quality peppers”. The Carolina Reaper is described as having a fruity, sweet taste with a hint of cinnamon and chocolate undertones, as well as being hot. The Carolina Reaper’s heat rating beats the former record holder for most fiery chilli, the Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T" grown by The Chilli Factory (Australia), which was rated at 1,463,700 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) in March 2011. Grown by the suitably named Ed Currie from the PuckerButt Pepper Company, Smokin Ed's Carolina Reaper delivers an average of 1,569,300 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), a figure now confirmed by Guinness World Records. While the Carolina Reaper drew much attention, much of it was not proper - or profitable.With its humid subtropical climate, the American state of South Carolina has a reputation for its hot summers, but it now has a new claim to fame for heat, with confirmation that a local producer has developed the world’s hottest chilli. “We covered the genetics, we covered the chemistry, we covered the botany,” he said.Ĭurrie, who is trying to build an empire of hot pepper sauces through his PuckerButt company, said he also learned plenty of business lessons during the past decade. It took 10 years to get Pepper X from the first crossbreed experiment to the record, including five years of testing to prove it was a different plant with a different fruit and documenting its average heat over different plants and generations. He shares his peppers with medical researchers, hoping they can use them to cure disease and help people who suffer chronic pain or discomfort.įor Currie, having the hottest pepper in the world has been a two-decade obsession. Currie, who went all in to growing peppers after kicking drug and alcohol addictions, considers that kick a natural high. The burning sensation spurred in humans also releases endorphins and dopamine into the body. compares to its top 6 predecessors like the Carolina Reaper and Ghost. ![]() Because birds don’t have the same reaction, they are able spread pepper seeds while sparing the plant. At 2.693 million Scoville Heat Units, Pepper X is the new worlds hottest pepper. Even so, the minds of humans and other mammals perceive capsaicin as a threat and send a strong burning signal to the body. The chemical in peppers that causes the burn is called capsaicin and not dangerous unless pounds of it are consumed. ![]()
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