Chili peppers are a popular condiment that adds aroma and flavor to food, as well as stimulates the palate and nerves for a unique spicy sensation. The spiciness of cayenne peppers is determined by a compound called capsaicin, which binds to the pain nerve endings of the mouth and throat, creating a burning sensation, while also causing an acceleration of blood circulation and metabolism, as well as a reaction to sweating and tearing. The spiciness of a chili pepper can be measured in the Scoville heat unit (shu), which indicates how many times the pepper needs to be diluted with water to no longer be spicy. The spiciness of chili peppers is affected by many factors, such as variety, climate, soil, ripeness, etc., so the spiciness of the same pepper will also fluctuate.
So, which is the hottest pepper in the world?According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the hottest pepper currently known in the world is the Carolina Reaper Pepper, which has a spiciness of 2,200,000 shu, which is more spicy than police pepper spray. This pepper was bred by American farmer Ed Currie, who spent 10 years finally breaking the Guinness World Record in 2013 as the hottest pepper in the world. The flavor of this chili pepper is both sweet and spicy, but eating it can make your mouth slurred, numb your whole body, and even vomit. Do you dare to try?
Ed Currie, the breeder of the Carolina Reaper Chili Pepper, is a chili buff who has loved chili since he was a child, and his grandmother told him that chili peppers can protect against cancer, which made him even more fascinated by chili peppers. Currie started a chili pepper company called the Puckerbutt Pepper Company in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he specialized in cultivating and selling a variety of chili peppers and hot sauces. Currie's dream is to breed a "** quality" chili pepper, which he believes is a power that can make people feel excited and happy.
Currie began his experiments with chili peppers, where he crossed different chili peppers in an attempt to create a new chili variety. His lab is his backyard, and his tools are a pair of scissors and some toothpicks. He uses scissors to cut off the petals of the peppers, dips the pollen of different peppers with a toothpick, and then applies the pollen to the stigma of the pepper to fertilize it. He cross-breeds more than a hundred times a year, hoping to produce one or two stable varieties over a period of up to 10 years. It was a long process, and he also encountered a lot of difficulties and setbacks, some peppers did not bear fruit, some peppers did not have spiciness, and some peppers did not have stability. But he didn't give up, he continued to search and try until he found Carolina Grim Reaper Pepper.
Carolina Reaper peppers are a cross between two types of peppers, a Naga Pepper from Pakistan and a red Habanero Pepper from Saint Lucia. Currie mixed the pollen of the two peppers together and applied it to a pepper called the larouge pepper, which he had brought back from St. Lucia. Currie calls this hybridization method a "double cross", which he believes increases the spiciness and stability of the peppers.
Currie gave the new pepper a name called HP22B, HP stands for High Power, 22 for his 22nd cross-breeding, and B for his second double cross. Currie was so pleased with the pepper that he felt it was shaped like a tail, he tasted like a Grim Reaper, and he was as spicy as a **, so he gave it a louder name, Carolina Reaper Pepper.
The Carolina Reaper pepper has a peculiar appearance, its fruit is red in color, about 3 cm long and 2 cm wide, with many wrinkles and depressions on the surface, and the tail has a tail-like protrusion that looks like a small lantern or a small pumpkin. The flavor of Carolina Reaper peppers is complex, its top taste has a sweet fruity aroma, but it is quickly masked by the strong spiciness of the aftertaste, which will continue to attack in the mouth, throat, stomach, etc., making people feel like being burned or cut by a knife, and even cause symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and heart palpitations.
The Carolina Reaper pepper is very hot, it has an average spiciness of 1,641,183 shu, and it can reach a maximum of 2,200,000 shu, which is currently the highest known spiciness in the world, which is equivalent to 10 times the spiciness of police pepper spray, or 400 times that of regular peppers. You need to be very careful when eating this chili, it is best to wear gloves and a mask, avoid contact with eyes and **.