Guinness World Records has declared Pepper X as the hottest chili on the planet, beating the Carolina Reaper, which was also created by Ed Currie. This means that Ed Currie has broken his own record. It took him a whole ten years to develop Pepper X, from when he first started mixing different chili plants to the moment it became a record-breaker.
This lengthy process included five years of testing to prove that Pepper X was a special kind of chili with exceptionally high spiciness. Pepper X is a mix of a Carolina Reaper and another super spicy pepper from Michigan.
Eating a whole Pepper X is not for the faint of heart. Ed Currie, one of the few who have done it, experienced intense spiciness for over three hours, followed by severe stomach cramps that left him in pain for about an hour.
Pepper X is quite different from the Carolina Reaper, the previous record-holder. It's not as eye-catching, being greenish-yellow and having a unique earthy taste.
The reason why peppers are hot is because of a substance called capsaicin. It's what makes your mouth feel like it's on fire when you eat them. The spiciness of peppers is measured in Scoville heat units. A regular jalapeno pepper measures around 5,000 units, while a habanero, a hot pepper from 25 years ago, scores around 100,000. The Carolina Reaper, previously the hottest, was measured at 1.64 million units.
Pepper X has set a new record with an average of 2.69 million Scoville heat units. Researchers at Winthrop University in South Carolina did tests over the last four years to confirm this spicy score.
In short, Pepper X is the spiciest chili in the world, thanks to Ed Currie's hard work and a lot of testing. It's even hotter than the Carolina Reaper and has set a new standard for spiciness.
