Pepper X was announced as world’s new hottest chili pepper

A small, wrinkly yellow-green pepper known as Pepper X is now officially the hottest chili pepper in the world, according to Guinness World Records.

Ed Currie, founder of PuckerButt Pepper Company in South Carolina, appeared on the YouTube show Hot Ones to receive the Guinness award and announce the spicy new variety to the world.

Chili Pepper X has captured the spicy record as the world’s hottest, Guinness World Records announced on Monday.

The new pepper rates an average of 2.69 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU), according to tests performed by Winthrop University in South Carolina, beating the previous record holder, Carolina Reaper, which averages 1.64 million SHU, according to Guinness World Records.

The SHU scale to measure chili pepper heat was developed by American chemist Wilbur Scoville in 1912.

By comparison, the average jalapeño pepper scores between 3,000 to 8,000 SHU, according to Guinness.

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.  

Heat in peppers is measured in Scoville Heat Units. Zero is bland, and a regular jalapeno pepper registers about 5,000 units. A habanero, the record-holder about 25 years ago, typically tops 100,000. The Guinness Book of World Records lists the Carolina Reaper at 1.64 million units.

Pepper X’s record is an average of 2.69 million units. By comparison, pepper spray commonly holstered by police is around 1.6 million units. Bear spray advertises at 2.2 million units.

"I was feeling the heat for three and a half hours. Then the cramps came," Mr Currie told the Associated Press.

"Those cramps are horrible. I was laid out flat on a marble wall for approximately an hour in the rain, groaning in pain."

Mr Currie said Pepper X is a crossbreed of a Carolina Reaper and a "pepper that a friend of mine sent me from Michigan that was brutally hot".

Mr Currie's lawyer said 10,000 products used the Carolina Reaper name, without permission.

In an effort to protect his intellectual property and see profits this time, Pepper X pods and seeds will not be released.

The only way to taste Pepper X will be through sold hot sauces.

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Sarah H

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