What is the spiciest pepper?
Pepper X is the hottest chili pepper on record. Guinness World Records certified it in 2023 at an average of about 2.69 million Scoville Heat Units.
Pepper X was bred by Ed Currie of the PuckerButt Pepper Company in South Carolina, who also created the Carolina Reaper. The Carolina Reaper held the record from 2013 until Pepper X replaced it, with an average heat of about 1.64 million Scoville units.
The heat in chili peppers comes from capsaicin, a chemical that triggers the same pain receptors that respond to heat. The Scoville scale, created by pharmacist Wilbur Scoville in 1912, measures this heat. A jalapeño rates about 2,500 to 8,000 units.
Handling extreme peppers
Extremely hot peppers can cause intense pain, vomiting and breathing problems, so experts recommend gloves when handling them. Milk and yogurt help relieve the burn better than water, because a protein in milk helps wash capsaicin away.
Did You Know?
Birds do not feel the burn of capsaicin. Scientists think chili plants evolved this way so that birds, which spread their seeds widely, would eat the fruit while mammals avoid it.