'Eating the 'Carolina Reaper' pepper is 'like eating molten lava' '. Vincent and a Naga pepper from Pakistan to create Smokin Ed's Carolina Reaper - 'a tidal wave of scorching fire,' as the PuckerButt website puts it. He said he tested hundreds of hybrid combinations before finally crossing a 'really nastily hot' La Soufriere pepper from the Caribbean island of St. It took 12 years of crossbreeding for Currie to reach the pinnacle of the pepper world. 'From Pot To Hot: How a grower produced world's most fiery chile pepper'. ^ Zucchino, David (November 27, 2014).^ 'Confirmed: Smokin Ed's Carolina Reaper sets new record for hottest chilli'.Smokin' Ed gained the pepper industry's attention in November 2010 when an NPR Reporter stopped by to eat an HP22B pepper–now known as Smokin' Ed's Carolina Reaper®. When fully ripe, two peppers occupy the palm of the hand. Cultivation įor growing, the pepper has been described as 'a good all-rounder to try at home' by English ethnobotanist James Wong, who said that they require temperatures of at least 18 ☌ (64 ☏) and suggested growing in 30–40 cm (12–16 in) pots to restrict growth and produce fruit sooner. Four months later, however, Currie claimed to have bred a stronger pepper known as Pepper X with 3.18 million SHUs. In May 2017, breeder Mike Smith of St Asaph, Wales, claimed to have surpassed the Carolina Reaper with his Dragon's Breath pepper, developed by Smith alongside Nottingham Trent University and reported to be 2.4 million SHUs Smith applied to Guinness World Records for confirmation. The figure is an average for the tested batch the hottest individual pepper was measured at 2.2 million SHU. The official Guinness World Record heat level was 1,641,183 SHU in 2017, according to tests conducted by Winthrop University in South Carolina.

It was certified as the world's hottest chili pepper by Guinness World Records on August 11, 2017, surpassing the previous record set by the Trinidad Scorpion 'Butch T'. The pepper was bred in a greenhouse in Rock Hill, South Carolina, by Ed Currie, proprietor of the Puckerbutt Pepper Company in Fort Mill. The sensory heat or pungency detected when eating a Carolina Reaper derives from the density of capsaicinoids, particularly capsaicin, which relates directly to the intensity of chili pepper heat and Scoville Heat Units (SHU). It has been described as having a fruity taste, with the initial bite being sweet and then immediately turning to 'molten lava'. The crossbreed is between a 'really nastily hot' La Soufriere pepper from Saint Vincent and a Naga pepper from India, and was named 'Reaper' due to the shape of its tail.

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