Hottest chili pepper

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Mature Carolina Reaper, listed by Guinness as the hottest chili pepper from 2017-2023 Mature Carolina Reaper (2017).jpg
Mature Carolina Reaper, listed by Guinness as the hottest chili pepper from 2017-2023

Amongst growers in the US, the UK, Australia, and France, there has been a competition since the 1990s to grow the hottest chili pepper. Chili pepper species and cultivars registering over 1,000,000 Scoville Heat units (SHU) are called "super-hots". Past Guinness World Record holders (in increasing order of hotness) include the ghost pepper, Infinity chili, Trinidad Moruga scorpion, Naga Viper pepper, Trinidad Scorpion Butch T, and Carolina Reaper. The current record holder, declared in 2023, is Pepper X, at more than 2.69 million SHU. [1]

Contents

History

Before the early 1990s, there were only two peppers which had been measured above 350,000 SHU, the Scotch bonnet and the habanero. [2] California farmer Frank Garcia used a sport of a habanero to develop a new cultivar, the Red Savina (C. chinense), [3] which was measured at 570,000 in 1994. [2] [3] At the time, this was considered representative of an upper limit of chili pepper hotness. [2]

The Red Savina pepper Red Savina (cropped square).jpg
The Red Savina pepper

In 2001, Paul Bosland, a researcher at the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University, visited India to collect specimens of ghost pepper, also called the Bhut Jolokia or Naga king chili, [4] traditionally grown near Assam, India, which was being studied by the Indian army for weaponization. [2] [5] When Bosland grew and tested the pepper, he discovered it measured over 1 million SHU. [2] According to Bosland, this "kind of opened the floodgates". [2] In 2006, the Dorset Naga (a subspecies of the Naga Morich) was claimed to be the hottest. [3] In 2012, the Chili Pepper Institute called the Trinidad Moruga scorpion the new hottest pepper, saying it had been measured at 2 million SHU, the first time the 2-million mark had been reached. [3]

Many of the cultivars developed in the attempt to produce ever-hotter peppers are hybrids of chilies traditionally grown in India and Trinidad. [6]

Super-hots

The new peppers have been termed "super-hots". [6] Super-hots are classified as peppers registering over 1 million SHU. [7]

In 2015, Bosland and his team, using fluorescence microscopy, found that super-hots not only have more capsaicin than other peppers, but also store their capsaicin differently. While for most peppers removing the pith and seeds also removes much of the heat, for super-hots this is not true, as they tend to store as much in their flesh as they do in their pith. [7] In their report, Bosland et al. call it a "novel discovery that these 'super-hot' chili peppers have developed accessorial vesicles on the pericarp tissue in addition to the vesicles on the placental tissue, thus leading to exceedingly high Scoville heat units for these plants." [7]

Super-hots should be handled with gloves and using eye protection, as contact with even a single seed can cause skin irritation via chili burn. [3]

Competition and certification

Chili growers compete with one another, often "ruthlessly", to create the world's hottest pepper. [2] According to Marc Fennell, creator of podcast It Burns, the competition is "a hugely controversial war – there are scandals, accusations of cheating, death threats." [8] According to Maxim, the race has "ignited heated debate" among chiliheads and raised "deep questions about science, ethics, and honor." [6] [9] Whilst competition mainly takes place among British, Australian, and American growers the competition in the US is noted for its "negativity and fighting." [10]

For many chili growers, the "crowning achievement" is being listed in Guinness World Records . [6] Guinness named a new hottest pepper in 2023, recognizing the Pepper X with 2.69 million Scoville units. [1]

Impact

According to Bosland, the records are "mainly of interest as publicity for purveyors of sauces". [2] As of 2013, hot sauce production and sales were among the fastest growing industries in the US, worth an estimated US$1 billion, [9] and producers "sell more sauce with a world-famous chile on the label". [6] Being able to claim the record can "make or break a new product". [9] The developer of the Naga Viper pepper, which claimed the record for a short period in 2011, earned US$40,000 in one month from sales of seeds and sauces. [11] [9] The developer of the Trinidad Moruga scorpion, which claimed the record in 2012, made US$10,000 in two days selling seeds. [9]

Seed sales are also an important revenue stream for developers. [6] As of 2013, super-hot seeds were unavailable from commercial seed suppliers, so those wishing to grow the peppers could obtain them only from the developers or small specialty suppliers. [6] According to Dave DeWitt, in 2013 "a typical Scorpion pepper pod at a farmers’ market [would] go for one dollar", speculating that "behind marijuana, they have the potential to become the second- or third-highest yielding crop per acre monetarily". [6] A bottle of hot sauce claimed to have 16 million SHU sold for US$595. [12] Chiliheads make YouTube videos showing themselves eating super-hots as a means of providing entertainment or marketing the heat of a particular pepper. [6] [12]

In Nagaland, India, the annual Hornbill Festival includes a ghost pepper-eating competition. [4]

Hottest peppers

Certified super-hot record holders

Between 2007 and 2012, Guinness "fielded 25 different claims to world's hottest". [9] As of August 23, 2023, Guinness lists Pepper X as the hottest pepper. [1]

CultivarImage Capsicum speciesDeveloperCountryScoville unitsGuinness
Pepper X C. chinense Ed Currie US2,693,000 [1] 2023
Carolina Reaper [13] Carolina Reaper pepper pods (cropped).jpg C. chinense Ed Currie US1,641,183 [14] 2017 [14]
Trinidad Scorpion Butch T [2] Trinidad Scorpion Butch T Pepper (cropped square).JPG C. chinenseButch Taylor [6]
Marcel de Wit [2] [15] 		US [6]
Australia [15] 		1,463,700 [9] 2011 [12]
Naga Viper [2] Naga Viper 486 orig.jpg C. chinense × C. frutescens Gerald Fowler [2] UK [3] 1,382,000 [2] 2011 [12]
Trinidad Moruga scorpion [2] Trinidad Moruga Scorpion (cropped).jpg C. chinenseWahid OgeerTrinidad [3] 1,200,0002012 [2]
Infinity [2] Infinity-Chilli-Pepper.jpg C. chinenseNick Woods [16] UK [16] 1,176,182 [16] 2011 [12]
Ghost pepper [9] BhutJolokia09 Asit.jpg C. chinense × C. frutescens [3] Landrace India [3] 1,001,000 [9] 2007 [9]

Uncertified contenders

CultivarImage Capsicum speciesDeveloperCountryAlleged SHU Introduced
Dragon's Breath [17] C. chinense Neal Price [17] UK [17] 2,400,000 [17] 2017
Chocolate 7-pot [3] C. chinense [3] Landrace Trinidad [3] 1,800,000 [3]
Komodo Dragon [18] [19] Komodo Dragon Chili (cropped).jpg C. chinenseLandraceUK1,400,000 [18] 2015
Armageddon [20] C. chinense × C. frutescens [20] LandraceUK1,300,000 [20] 2019
Dorset Naga [3]
(subspecies of Naga Morich)		 Naga jolokia chili.jpg C. chinense [3] Joy and Michael Michaud [3] UK [3] 1,201,000 [3]
Naga Morich Naga jolokia chili.jpg C. chinense [21] LandraceIndia and Bangladesh1,000,000 [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scoville scale</span> Scale for measuring spiciness of peppers

The Scoville scale is a measurement of pungency of chili peppers and other substances, recorded in Scoville heat units (SHU). It is based on the concentration of capsaicinoids, among which capsaicin is the predominant component.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chili pepper</span> Varieties of peppers of Capsicum genus

Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli, are varieties of berry-fruit plants from the genus Capsicum, which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. Chili peppers are widely used in many cuisines as a spice to add "heat" to dishes. Capsaicin and the related capsaicinoids give chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically. Chili peppers exhibit a range of heat and flavors. This diversity is the reason behind the availability of different types of chili powder, each offering its own taste and heat level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hot sauce</span> Condiment made from chili peppers

Hot sauce is a type of condiment, seasoning, or salsa made from chili peppers and other ingredients. Many commercial varieties of mass-produced hot sauce exist.

<i>Capsicum chinense</i> Species of flowering plant

Capsicum chinense, commonly known as a "habanero-type pepper", is a species of chili pepper native to the Americas. C. chinense varieties are well known for their unique flavors and, in many cases, exceptional heat. The hottest peppers in the world are members of this species, with a Scoville Heat Unit score of 2.69 million measured in the C. chinense cultivar, Pepper X in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Savina pepper</span> Chili pepper

The Red Savina pepper is a cultivar of the habanero chili, which has been selectively bred to produce spicier, heavier, and larger fruit, ultimately more potent than its derivative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naga Morich</span> Chinese variety of chili pepper

The Naga Morich is a chili pepper originally grown primarily in Bangladesh and Northeast India. It is also one of the hottest known chilli peppers and measures 800,000 SHU on Scoville scale. Morich is the word for chilli pepper in Bengali, with similar words in Assamese:, Nepali, Hindi and the languages of Nagaland and Manipur. "Naga Mircha" is registered under the Geographical Indications (GI) of Nagaland by Government of India.

A chili grenade is a type of non-lethal weapon developed by Indian military scientists at the Defence Research and Development Organisation for use by the Indian Armed Forces. The weapon is similar to tear gas. In 2016, civilian variants were being used for crowd control in Jammu and Kashmir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naga Viper pepper</span> Hot chili pepper

The Naga Viper pepper is a hot chili pepper. In 2011, it was recorded as the "World's Hottest Chili" by the Guinness World Records with a rating of 1,382,118 Scoville heat units (SHU), but was surpassed in SHU by the Carolina Reaper, in 2017, and again by the latest world record holder Pepper X in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infinity chili</span> Chili pepper known for extreme heat

The Infinity Chili pepper is a chili pepper hybrid of the Capsicum chinense species created in England by chili breeder Nicholas Woods of Fire Foods, Grantham, Lincolnshire. For two weeks in February 2011, the Infinity Chili held the Guinness World Record title for the world's hottest chili with a Scoville scale rating of 1,067,286 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). On March 1, 2011, it was displaced by the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T pepper, which registered 1,463,700 SHU.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinidad Scorpion Butch T pepper</span> Chili pepper

The Trinidad Scorpion Butch T is a Capsicum chinense cultivar that is among the hottest peppers in the world. It is a hybrid pepper and thus not indigenous to anywhere; however, its hybrid parentage is derived from the Trinidad Moruga scorpion indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago. It was named by Neil Smith from The Hippy Seed Company, after he got the seeds originally from Butch Taylor who is responsible for propagating the pepper's seeds. The "scorpion" peppers are referred to as such because the pointed end of the pepper is said to resemble a scorpion's stinger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinidad Moruga scorpion</span> Exceptionally hot chili pepper

The Trinidad Moruga scorpion is a chili pepper native to the village of Moruga, Trinidad and Tobago. In 2012, New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute identified the Trinidad Moruga scorpion as the hottest chili pepper at that time, with heat of 1.2 million Scoville heat units (SHUs).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolina Reaper</span> Exceptionally hot cultivar of C. chinense pepper plant

The Carolina Reaper chili pepper is a cultivar of the Capsicum chinense plant. Developed by American breeder Ed Currie, the pepper is red and gnarled, with a bumpy texture and small pointed tail. It was the hottest chili pepper in the world according to Guinness World Records from 2013 to 2023 before it was surpassed by Pepper X, which was also developed by Currie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghost pepper</span> Chili pepper cultivated in Northeast India

The ghost pepper, also known as bhüt jolokia, is an interspecific hybrid chili pepper cultivated in Northeast India. It is a hybrid of Capsicum chinense and Capsicum frutescens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Mexico chile</span> Cultivar group of chile peppers from New Mexico, United States

New Mexico chile or New Mexican chile is a cultivar group of the chile pepper from the US state of New Mexico, first grown by Pueblo and Hispano communities throughout Santa Fe de Nuevo México. These landrace chile plants were used to develop the modern New Mexico chile peppers by horticulturist Fabián García and his students, including Roy Nakayama, at what is now New Mexico State University in 1894.

<i>Capsicum</i> Genus of flowering plants

Capsicum is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae, native to the Americas, cultivated worldwide for their edible fruit, which are generally known as "peppers" or "capsicum". Chili peppers grow on five species of Capsicum. Sweet or bell peppers and some chili peppers are Capsicum annuum, making it the most cultivated species in the genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Habanero</span> Strain of chili (Capsicum)

The habanero is a hot variety of chili. Unripe habaneros are green, and they color as they mature. The most common color variants are orange and red, but the fruit may also be white, brown, yellow, green, or purple. Typically, a ripe habanero is 2–6 centimetres long. Habanero chilis are very hot, rated 100,000–350,000 on the Scoville scale. The habanero heat, flavor, and floral aroma make it a common ingredient in hot sauces and other spicy foods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dragon's Breath (chili pepper)</span> Chili pepper

Dragon's Breath is a chili pepper cultivar that unofficially tested at 2.48 million Scoville units.

Ed Currie is an American chili pepper breeder who is the founder and president of the PuckerButt Pepper Company. He is best known for breeding the Carolina Reaper which was the hottest chili pepper in the world until, in 2023, Pepper X, also bred by Currie, took over as the hottest chili pepper, as recognized by Guinness World Records.

The Armageddon chili pepper is a chili pepper variety, it is the world's first superhot F1 hybrid of C. chinense. The variety was created by Tozer Seeds and first grown by Salvatore Genovese. The Armageddon pepper was introduced to the UK market in 2019. The pepper holds a rating of 1.3 million SHU.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sanj Atwal (16 October 2023). "Pepper X dethrones Carolina Reaper as world's hottest chilli pepper". Guinness World Records Ltd. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Jakab, Spencer (March 26, 2013). "The Arms Race to Grow World's Hottest Pepper Goes Nuclear". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Hildebrand, Caz (2018). An Anarchy of Chilies. Thames & Hudson. ISBN   978-0-500-02183-5.
  4. 1 2 Roach, Mary (2013). "The Gut-Wrenching Science Behind the World's Hottest Peppers". Smithsonian. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  5. ↑ "World's Hottest Chile Pepper Discovered". ScienceDaily. October 28, 2007. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Anderson, Lessley (April 3, 2013). "Growing Pain: Chilihead fanatics are locked in a race to cultivate the world's hottest pepper". Modern Farmer. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 Pierre-Louis, Kendra (March 11, 2016). "What Makes the Ghost Pepper So Spicy?". The Atlantic. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  8. ↑ Pobjie, Ben (April 14, 2019). "Marc Fennell's new podcast It Burns". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on May 21, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Leckart, Steven (December 18, 2017). "In Search Of the World's Spiciest Pepper". Maxim. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  10. ↑ Hunt, Nicholas (September 17, 2013). "So God Made the World's Hottest Pepper". The Atlantic. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  11. ↑ Collins, Lauren (October 28, 2013). "The Search for the World's Hottest Chili". New Yorker. ISSN   0028-792X . Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Adams, Paul (July 7, 2011). "FYI: What is the Hottest Pepper in the World?". Popular Science. Archived from the original on December 15, 2017. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  13. ↑ Winthrop University's attorney, Caroline Craig and their FOIA response, Ed Currie's Testing Results, dated April 21, 2021, shows major deviations from Guinness rules
  14. 1 2 "Hottest chilli pepper (2017)". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on January 28, 2023. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  15. 1 2 DaSilva, Matthew (April 12, 2011). "World's hottest chilli grown by Aussies". Australian Geographic. Archived from the original on April 15, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  16. 1 2 3 Henderson, Neil (December 19, 2011). "'Record-breaking' chilli is hot news". BBC. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "'World's hottest' chilli grown in Wales". BBC. May 17, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  18. 1 2 Smithers, Rebecca (August 11, 2015). "UK's hottest ever commercially grown chilli pepper to go on sale". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  19. ↑ Alexander, Safforn (July 19, 2016). "World's hottest chilli pepper goes on sale at Tesco: are you brave enough to try it?". The Telegraph. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  20. 1 2 3 "Armageddon arrives: Rocketing pepper demand drives Tesco launch of hottest UK-grown variety". foodingredientsfirst.com. July 30, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  21. ↑ Lim, T. K. (2013). Edible Medicinal and Non-Medicinal Plants: Volume 6, Fruits. Springer. p. 205. ISBN   9789400756274.
  22. ↑ "The Scoville Scale". Pepper Information. Chilipepper.com. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2011.[ better source needed ]
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