Hottest chili pepper

Amongst growers in the US, the UK, Australia, and France, there has been a competition since the 1990s to grow thehottest chili pepper.Chili pepperspecies and cultivars registering over 1,000,000Scoville Heat units(SHU) are called "super-hots". PastGuinness World Recordholders (in increasing order of hotness) include theInfinity chili,Trinidad Moruga scorpion,Naga Viper pepper,Trinidad Scorpion Butch T, andCarolina Reaper. The current record holder, declared in 2023, isPepper X, at more than 2.69 million SHU.
Before the early 1990s, there were only two peppers which had been measured above 350,000 SHU, theScotch bonnetand thehabanero.California farmer Frank Garcia used asportof a habanero to develop a new cultivar, theRed Savina(C. chinense),which was measured at 570,000 in 1994.At the time, this was considered representative of an upper limit of chili pepper hotness.
In 2001, Paul Bosland, a researcher at theChile Pepper InstituteatNew Mexico State University, visited India to collect specimens ofghost pepper, also called the Bhut Jolokia or Naga king chili,traditionally grown nearAssam, India, which was beingstudied by the Indian army for weaponization.When Bosland grew and tested the pepper, he discovered it measured over 1 million SHU.According to Bosland, this "kind of opened the floodgates".In 2006, the Dorset Naga (asubspeciesof theNaga Morich) was claimed to be the hottest.In 2012, the Chili Pepper Institute called theTrinidad Moruga scorpionthe new hottest pepper, saying it had been measured at 2 million SHU, the first time the 2-million mark had been reached.
Many of the cultivars developed in the attempt to produce ever-hotter peppers are hybrids of chilies traditionally grown in India and Trinidad.
The new peppers have been termed "super-hots".Super-hots are classified as peppers registering over 1 million SHU.
In 2015, Bosland and his team, usingfluorescence microscopy, found that super-hots not only have more capsaicin than other peppers, but also store their capsaicin differently. While for most peppers removing the pith and seeds also removes much of the heat, for super-hots this is not true, as they tend to store as much in their flesh as they do in their pith.In their report, Bosland et al. call it a  "novel discovery that these 'super-hot' chili peppers have developed accessorialvesicleson thepericarptissue in addition to the vesicles on theplacentaltissue, thus leading to exceedingly high Scoville heat units for these plants."
Super-hots should be handled with gloves and using eye protection, as contact with even a single seed can cause skin irritation viachili burn.
Chili growers compete with one another, often "ruthlessly", to create the world's hottest pepper.According toMarc Fennell, creator of podcastIt Burns, the competition is "a hugely controversial war – there are scandals, accusations of cheating, death threats."According toMaxim, the race has "ignited heated debate" amongchiliheadsand raised "deep questions about science, ethics, and honor."Whilst competition mainly takes place among British, Australian, and American growers the competition in the US is noted for its "negativity and fighting."
For many chili growers, the "crowning achievement" is being listed inGuinness World Records.Guinnessnamed a new hottest pepper in 2023, recognizing thePepper Xwith 2.69 million Scoville units.
According to Bosland, the records are "mainly of interest as publicity for purveyors ofsauces".As of 2013, hot sauce production and sales were among the fastest growing industries in the US, worth an estimated US$1 billion,and producers "sell more sauce with a world-famous chile on the label".Being able to claim the record can "make or break a new product".The developer of theNaga Viper pepper, which claimed the record for a short period in 2011, earned US$40,000 in one month from sales of seeds and sauces.The developer of theTrinidad Moruga scorpion, which claimed the record in 2012, made US$10,000 in two days selling seeds.
Seed sales are also an important revenue stream for developers.As of 2013, super-hot seeds were unavailable from commercial seed suppliers, so those wishing to grow the peppers could obtain them only from the developers or small specialty suppliers.According to Dave DeWitt, in 2013 "a typical Scorpion pepper pod at a farmers’ market [would] go for one dollar", speculating that "behind marijuana, they have the potential to become the second- or third-highest yielding crop per acre monetarily".A bottle of hot sauce claimed to have 16 million SHU sold for US$595.Chiliheads makeYouTubevideos showing themselves eating super-hots as a means of providing entertainment or marketing the heat of a particular pepper.
InNagaland, India, the annualHornbill Festivalincludes a ghost pepper-eating competition.
Between 2007 and 2012,Guinness"fielded 25 different claims to world's hottest".As of August 23, 2023,Guinnesslists Pepper X as the hottest pepper.