“PepperX” is Officially the Hottest Pepper on the Planet

Ed Currie, founder of aptly named “PuckerButt Pepper Company” in South Carolina, has unleashed a fiery new pepper variety into the world known as “PepperX.” According to Guinness World Records, the wrinkly yellow-green pepper is officially the hottest in the world, measuring an average of 2.693 million Scoville Heat Units. The previous record holder, the Carolina Reaper – also developed by Currie – averaged 1.64 million SHUs.

For those not familiar, the Scoville Scale determines the heat of peppers by measuring the concentration of its heat-wielding chemical compounds called capsaicinoids. A jalapeño measures 2,000 to 8,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), while a serrano can land between 10,000 and 23,000 SHUs. Currie explains that the Scoville Scale is logarithmic,  “so it’s more like three times hotter than a Reaper.”
   
Much of a pepper’s heat is concentrated not in its seeds but rather in the interior white placenta that holds the seeds. According to Guinness, Pepper X’s exterior bumpiness creates more space for that placenta to grow. Currie said his team at PuckerButt stabilized PepperX about a decade ago but only released it now because no one else has topped his Carolina Reaper record. Currie said the name ‘Pepper X’ was just a placeholder because the team didn’t know what to call it, but it stuck.

Currie warns that PepperX is not meant to be eaten on its own. Even when it is included in food, it’s not for the faint of heart. Puckerbutt has conveniently released a variety of products containing the new mouth fire, though, including a hot sauce and “the world’s spiciest chocolate bar.”

According to Currie, this is what it’s like to eat the world’s hottest pepper: “There’s an intense burn that happens immediately. Then your head kind of feels like, ‘Oh no! What’s going on?’ And 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’re in pain.”

You can watch Currie receive the official Guinness World Record certification on YouTube show “Hot Ones” HERE. The Hot Ones’ hosts are the first people in the world to try PepperX, too. Spoiler alert – it is not pretty! According to Currie, after he finished filming the Hot Ones episode, he was only able to walk 10 feet out of his car before collapsing. Learn more about PepperX and PuckerButt Pepper Company HERE.