Can you imagine tasting a chilli that would cause cramps, and then you would have to lie down on the floor in the rain for the effect to stop? No? But it's here, and here's all about it.
The Guinness World Records has crowned Pepper X as the hottest chilli pepper in the world, dethroning the Carolina Reaper chilli pepper after 10 years.
The Scoville Heat Units (SHU) tests were performed by Winthrop University in South Carolina, US and?Pepper X?was named the world's hottest pepper on?October 9.
For comparison, a habanero pepper typically hits 100,000 Scoville heat units, but Pepper X registers at 2.69 million units.
According to Guinness World Records, the previous record holder, Carolina Reaper, averages 1.64 million SHU.
The SHU scale to measure chilli pepper heat was developed by American chemist Wilbur Scoville in 1912.
Pepper X is grown by Ed Currie, founder of Puckerbutt Pepper Company in South Carolina. He also created the Carolina Reaper, which took the record in 2013.?"Ed cultivated Pepper X on his farm for over 10 years, cross-breeding it with some of his hottest peppers to increase its capsaicin content," Guinness said on its website.?
Currie first presented Pepper X to the world on an episode of the popular YouTube series "Hot Ones.""Those who don't fear the Reaper are fools. It is painfully hot," reads a description of the dethroned pepper on the Puckerbutt Pepper Company's website.
In an effort to protect his intellectual property and see profits this time, Pepper X pods and seeds will not be released. The only way to taste Pepper X will be through sold hot sauces.
The heat of the pepper lingered with Currie hours after he completed his initial taste test. ¡°I was feeling the heat for 3? 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," Currie shared with The Associated Press.
The greenish-yellow Pepper X has an earthy flavour, unlike the spicy-sweet taste found in the bright red Carolina Reaper. Pepper X was crossbred with a Carolina Reaper and a pepper from Michigan that is "brutally hot," Currie said.??
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