Pepper X Aims to Be the World's Hottest Pepper, Twice as Hot as Carolina Reaper
FORT MILL, SC – The man who bred the Carolina Reaper—renowned as the world’s hottest pepper till May of this year—is back with a new breed that pushes the boundaries of bearableness even further.
“We’re playing with fire,” “Smokin’” Ed Currie, Founder of Puckerbutt Pepper Company, told Sean Evans, Host of First We Feast’s “Hot Ones” webcast. “Pepper X is three times hotter than any other peppers that are out there available commercially. It’s twice as hot as the Reaper at 1.6 million, so this is a dangerous pepper.”
According to Currie, Pepper X has been in development for nearly ten years of breeding for heat.
“It’s just gotten hotter and hotter, and we’re averaging about 3.18 million [Scoville units] on this one,” Currie told Evans.
At 3.18 Scoville units, the new pepper—temporarily dubbed “Pepper X”—is more than 150 times as hot as the hottest jalapeño. Currie noted that Pepper X is effectively twice as hot as the Carolina Reaper and significantly hotter than the Dragon’s Breath, a pepper bred for medicinal purposes that is so hot it could potentially kill if consumed.
The new pepper is currently awaiting official recognition from the Guinness Book of World Records.
“We submitted it to Guinness about three weeks ago…and it will be around November until they get back to us,” Currie said.
Puckerbutt Pepper Company is currently using Pepper X to produce a hot sauce entitled “The Last Dab”—available exclusively through the website Heatonist—purported to be “the hottest natural sauce on the planet.”
Will Pepper X achieve Guinness Book of World recognition, hoisting “Smokin’” Ed to the top of the pepper breeding pile? AndNowUKnow keep you updated.
