| Pepper X | |
|---|---|
| Species | Capsicum chinense |
| Breeder | Ed Currie |
| Origin | Fort Mill, South Carolina, United States |
| Heat |  Exceptionally hot |
| Scoville scale | On average: 2,693,000[1] SHU |
Pepper X is acultivar ofchili pepper recognized byGuinness World Records in 2023 as the world'shottest chili pepper.[1] It was bred byEd Currie, the creator of theCarolina Reaper.[2][3][4]
Pepper X measures an average of 2.693 millionScoville heat units (SHU), beating the previous world record of 1.64 million SHU held by the Carolina Reaper.[1][2]
Pepper X is acrossbreed of aCarolina Reaper and a pepper sent to Currie by a friend.[2] The curves and ridges of a Pepper X chili create moresurface area for itsplacenta, the tissue that containscapsaicin, to grow.[2]
Currie said that, when he ate a Pepper X chili, he "was feeling the heat for three and a half hours" and then experiencedcramps that had him "laid out flat on a marble wall for approximately an hour in the rain, groaning in pain".[2]
Pepper X's heat status has been criticized, because independent testing of the pepper has not been performed.[5]
