page_title: Carolina Reaper
section_title: Pungency
hierarchical_section_title: Carolina Reaper / Pungency
caption_attribution_description: English: Mature Carolina Reaper.
context_page_description: The Carolina Reaper is a cultivar of the Capsicum chinense plant. Developed by South Carolina breeder Ed Currie, the pepper is red and gnarled, with a bumpy texture and small pointed tail. In 2013, Guinness World Records declared it the hottest chili pepper in the world, surpassing the previous record holder, the Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T". Other varieties may be spicier, such as Dragon's Breath or Pepper X but are not officially confirmed with a Scoville scale higher than the Carolina Reaper.
context_section_description: 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 scale. Bred in a Rock Hill, South Carolina greenhouse by "Smokin" Ed Currie, proprietor of the PuckerButt Pepper Company in Fort Mill, the Carolina Reaper was certified as the world's hottest chili pepper by the Guinness World Records on August 11, 2017. The official Guinness World Record heat level was 1,641,183 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) in 2017, according to tests conducted by Winthrop University in South Carolina. The figure is an average for the tested batch; the hottest individual pepper was measured at 2.2 million SHU.
  The crossbreed is between a "really nastily hot" La Soufriere pepper from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and a Naga Viper pepper from Pakistan, and is named 'Reaper' due to the shape of its tail.  It has been described as having a fruity taste, with the initial bite being sweet and then immediately turning to "molten lava".
  In May 2017, Mike Smith of St Asaph, Wales working with Nottingham Trent University, claimed to have surpassed the Carolina Reaper with his Dragon's Breath pepper, reported to be 2.4 million SHUs, and applied to Guinness World Records for confirmation. However, In September 2017, Ed Currie claimed to have bred a stronger pepper known as Pepper X having 3.18 million SHUs.
caption: Mature plant
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