The Hottest Pepper in the World Is Another Puckerbutt Creation

The Carolina reapers, pictured here, have finally been dethroned as the hottest on the planet. Manex Catalapiedra / Getty Images

Hot peppers are tasty and nutritious fruits (not vegetables!) that create a spicy sensation on your tastebuds. They have been a staple of spicy foods for thousands of years, but in the last half-century, scientists have developed advanced cross-breeding techniques to craft the hottest pepper in the world — hotter than nature would concoct on its own.

How Are the Hottest Chili Peppers Measured?

Capsaicin is the primary chemical responsible for creating that sensory kick from your favorite peppers. The Scoville scale is used to measure the hottest peppers in the world in Scoville heat units (SHU). The higher the Scoville rating, the hotter the pepper.

What Is the Hottest Chili Pepper?

The Guinness World Records' current pepper variety champ is Pepper X, a hellish concoction developed by none other than the pepper pioneer and founder of Puckerbutt Pepper Company: Ed Currie.

Currie's creation broke the Guinness Book competition of the world's hottest peppers with an astounding 2.7 million SHU.

That said, chili peppers come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Some super hots have a sweet flavor, but depending on the Scoville heat level they may quickly give way to dragon's breath levels of spice in a short period of time.

Top 10 World's Hottest Pepper Cultivars

Some of the world's spiciest pepper hot sauce recipes would be little more than mild jalapeño dips without some of the wild and twisted cultivars on this list.

10. Red Savina Habanero: 500,000 SHU

The Red Savina pepper is as bright and bold as its name would entail. This No. 10 hottest chili pepper boasts a 60-times-higher SHU than the hottest jalapeño pepper.

9. 7 Pot Barrackpore: 1 million SHU

You'll notice several cultivars of 7 Pot spicy peppers on this "world's hottest pepper" list, and that's for good reason. These hot sauce behemoths surpass other peppers — like the scotch bonnet pepper — by over 500,000 SHU.

8. Ghost Pepper (Bhut Jolokia): 1,041,427 SHU

Ghost peppers entered the internet zeitgeist with a boom after viewers witnessed their favorite celebrities brought to tears with just a dab of extreme heat levels on Sean Evans' now-famous YouTube show, Hot Ones. Ghost peppers consistently produce a Scoville heat level higher than a million SHU.

7. Naga Viper: 1,349,000 SHU

You should always tread carefully when dealing with the Naga Viper pepper because it packs an unforgiving bite. Although cultivated in the U.K., it is closely related to the Naga Morich from India and Bangladesh.

This cultivar's chili seeds are rare and varied, so plants may develop a wide flavor and spice profile.

6. Trinidad Scorpion (Butch T): 1,463,700 SHU

Trinidad Scorpion peppers from Australia once earned the Guinness World Records' top spot in 2011. Although other super hots have surpassed it since, the stinging heat levels of these peppers are not for the faint of heart.

5. 7 Pot Primo: 1,469,000 SHU

The Primo, another one of the world's hottest "7 pot" cultivars, looks like a Carolina reaper pepper with a deadly hornet stinger. A murder hornet might be the more apt comparison, since the 7 Pot Primo tips the Scoville Scale at nearly 1.5 million SHU — roughly 30 times hotter than the spiciest cayenne pepper.

4. 7 Pot Douglah: 1.9 million SHU

You may not expect excruciatingly high heat levels from a wrinkly, chocolate-brown pepper, but that would be a grave mistake if you bit into one of these. However, these super hots are some connoisseurs' favorite hottest peppers in the world because they produce some of the best flavor-to-heat balances in the business.

3. Trinidad Moruga Scorpion: 2.1 million SHU

Anyone with average heat tolerance won't likely make it this far down the list, but the brave and deranged lovers of super-hot peppers will need all their strength to battle with these spicy devils. Coming in at the No. 3 hottest pepper in the world is this Moruga Scorpion from Trinidad and Tobago.

2. Carolina Reaper: 2.2 million SHU

South Carolina Reapers are renowned for their long "hottest pepper" standings in the Guinness World Records on-and-off since they were introduced in 2013. The Carolina Reaper pepper is a cultivar of a traditional red habanero pepper that possesses a deadly stinger tail that pumps out over 2 million SHU.

1. Pepper X: 2.7 million SHU

The current Guinness World Record holder for hottest pepper in the world is Pepper X, an Ed Currie monster that peaks at nearly 3 million SHU.

Due to its explosive nature and secretive patents, Pepper X is hidden under lock and key like a nuclear warhead, leaving the bravest pepperheads to settle for rare hot sauces that dare to include this cultivar in their recipes.

Now That's Competitive

Horticulturists continue to experiment with different cultivars in an attempt to tip the Scoville Scale into adventurous levels. Similar to other scientific ventures, pepper cultivation has developed several clandestine operations as scientists attempt to outperform their competition. These ventures are protected by patents that were first established and recognized in 1930 with the enactment of the Plant Patent Act, which aimed to ensure intellectual property protections for those willing to find the ultimate potential of chili peppers and other crops.