The Guinness World Records on Monday officially announced ‘Pepper X' as the world's hottest chilli pepper. 'Pepper X' rates an average of 2.69 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
It is grown by Ed Currie, founder of Puckerbutt Pepper Company (USA), who also created the previous record holder, the Carolina Reaper, which averages 1.64 million SHU, the Guinness World Records said in a statement.
Ed Currie unveiled 'Pepper X' on an episode of the hit YouTube series Hot Ones. Guinness World Records said that the new pepper's sizzling Scoville score was calculated by Winthrop University in South Carolina, who conducted tests using specimens from the past four years.
For context, a jalapeno is around 3,000 to 8,000 SHU, according to Guinness.
The SHU scale to measure chilli pepper heat was developed by American chemist Wilbur Scoville in 1912, CNN reported.
The Scoville scale is based on the concentration of capsaicin, which is an active component of chilli peppers and causes a burning sensation when it makes contact with human tissue.
"This was a team effort," Currie said in a statement, according to BBC. "We knew we had something special, so I only let a few of my closest family and friends know what was really going on."
Currie said when he first tried Pepper X, it did more than warm his heart.
“I was feeling the heat for three-and-a-half hours. Then the cramps came. Those cramps are horrible. I was laid out flat on a marble wall for approximately an hour in the rain, groaning in pain,” he told the Associated Press.
Only five people including Currie, had tasted Pepper X when its record-breaking status was announced.
There's a new hot pepper in town, and it looks terrifyinghttps://t.co/2B8gByrAnx
October 17, 2023Ed Currie cultivated Pepper X on his farm for over 10 years, cross breeding it with some of his hottest peppers to increase its capsaicin content.
Due to past experience, Currie intends to protect Pepper X more fiercely under his intellectual property. Therefore, he will not publicly release the pods and seeds of Pepper X, a report in The Guardian said.
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