Pepper X has scorched its way into the record books as the world’s new hottest pepper, Guinness World Records said Monday.
Ed Currie, the pepper expert who crossbred and grew Pepper X, previously broke the record for the hottest pepper on Earth a decade ago with the Carolina Reaper. Currie developed Pepper X years ago, but didn’t release it right away, he said in a First We Feast video posted to YouTube on Monday. He said he kept Pepper X in his back pocket in case any other growers released something hotter than the Carolina Reaper. When no one came forward, he decided to bring out Pepper X.
“This is the culmination of a lot of work by a lot of people,” Currie said in the First We Feast video. “People said it couldn’t be done, they called us liars, and we proved to them that Pepper X is actually the hottest pepper in the world, officially from Guinness.”
What are Scoville Heat Units?
A pepper’s heat is determined by how much capsaicin it contains, with that heat expressed with a tool called the Scoville Scale. Pharmacologist Wilbur Scoville invented the scale in 1912. It measures how much water is required to dilute a pepper before its heat can…
