{"id":5111,"date":"2022-07-22T08:19:27","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T08:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hellawella.com\/?p=5111"},"modified":"2022-07-22T14:30:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T14:30:50","slug":"top-10-hottest-peppers-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hellawella.com\/top-10-hottest-peppers-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The Top 10 World\u2019s Hottest Peppers"},"content":{"rendered":"
Whether you\u2019re a full-on spicy food aficionado or you feel that hot peppers are best seen and not tasted, you\u2019ve got to admit, they are <\/span>fascinating<\/span><\/i>. How incredible is it that a simple—and in most cases quite small\u2013fruit can have such an effect upon whoever dares to sample a taste. The burning sensation in your mouth, the tearing of your eyes, the way the oils linger on your fingers as a constant reminder for the next several days that you have survived a hot pepper encounter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Most folks know to be careful when handling common chili peppers such as jalapenos, and to be conservative when adding <\/span>any <\/span><\/i>type of pepper to a recipe. But just how hot can things get, especially when it comes to<\/span> the <\/span>absolute <\/span><\/i>hottest peppers in the world?<\/span><\/p>\n Stick around because we\u2019re walking our way through the fiery gates to reveal the hottest chili pepper to date, as well as 9 more of the hottest peppers in the world!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here\u2019s the thing about nailing down the official hottest pepper in the world: it changes every year. How is this possible you ask? Well, the plant kingdom is ever-expanding, thanks to continuous discovery of new species, and perhaps more importantly, continuous <\/span>creation<\/span><\/i> of new varieties.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As evidenced by the exploding base of spicy pepper fandom in recent years, pushing the limits on super sweltering peppers is a hot topic (in more ways than one!), causing many hot pepper breeders to spend their time developing more and more picante chilies in the quest to achieve the hottest of the hot.<\/span><\/p>\n Consider this: it was only in 2007 that a 1,000,000+ Scoville unit pepper was first developed! Today we have a few varieties that break the 2 million SHU mark, and one which is actually over <\/span>three million <\/span><\/i>SHU.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What actually are these little Scoville units? Scoville heat units–or SHU for short–were developed by a scientist of the same name, who devised a precision system for determining the concentration of capsaicin (the spicy compound!) in various types of peppers.<\/span><\/p>\n The downside of this system? It relied on live human subjects to actually taste test solutions which contained carefully proportioned amounts of the actual hot peppers themselves. Although the solutions were diluted, it still was a rather subjective method of measure and now, high-performance liquid chromatography is used as a much more objective way to measure Scoville units.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although the Scoville scale was developing specifically to measure capsaicin-containing foods such as chili peppers, these units are now also used to rate other spicy-hot foods such as horseradish, ginger, alliums, and peppercorns, which, surprise, are not at all related to the chili pepper!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For reference as you read through our hot chili pepper countdown below, bear in mind that the average jalapeno pepper rings in at 5,000 SHU, while the hottest variety of habanero pepper lingers around 500,000 SHU!<\/span><\/p>\n It would be impossible to even count, let alone rank, all of the hot peppers out there which would be sure to set your world on fire. Nevertheless, we\u2019ve assembled the most current, top <\/span>ten<\/span><\/i> hottest peppers of the bunch here!<\/span><\/p>\n Have you ever picked up a few jalapenos from the same spot at your market only to discover that one of them is barely hotter than a green bell pepper while the other once could trigger a five alarm fire? This goes to show that the exact number of Scoville units can vary widely from one particular pepper to another.<\/span><\/p>\n Therefore, for each pepper featured in our countdown, we\u2019ve included the average level of Scoville heat units instead of featuring the highest, lowest, or range between the two.<\/span><\/p>\n 3.18 Million Scoville Heat Units (SHU)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n From the hot pepper mastermind Ed \u201cSmokin\u2019 Ed\u201d Currie comes Pepper X, the latest in a long line of super hots! The minds of chili pepper-heads everywhere were blown when it was announced that this pepper rings in a whopping 3,180,000 Scoville units. For comparison, that is over <\/span>six hundred times <\/span><\/i>hotter than the average jalapeno. Now THAT, is some truly insane heat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There are still a few clouds obscuring the <\/span>official<\/span><\/i> world\u2019s hottest pepper crown from the view of Pepper X however. Though many sources state that it is indeed currently the world\u2019s hottest chili, this fact remains unconfirmed by Guinness World Records. While the world waits for official approval, Pepper X is available in hot sauce form only. You won\u2019t be finding this whole pepper for sale anywhere soon, or in all likelihood, ever. They are simply too hot to put out to the masses!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 3 Million Scoville Heat Units (SHU)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the battle of the world\u2019s hottest peppers, being in the number 2 spot is still nothing to sneeze at. Although truth be told, even a tiny exposure to a bit of the Apollo pepper might, quite literally, leave you sneezing!<\/span><\/p>\n Interestingly enough, this pepper is the spawn of two other peppers in our top 10 list: the number 1 place holder, Pepper X, and the number 4 winner, the Carolina Reaper. When these two spicy chilis got together, it surely came as no surprise that they yielded a new cultivar that packed a comparable level of extreme heat.<\/span><\/p>\n The Apollo pepper is used for making hot sauces and is exclusively available through The Hot One\u2019s line of sauces, which also features a line of hot sauces made from top dog Pepper X as well!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 2.48 Million Scoville Heat Units (SHU)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Dragon\u2019s Breath chili is so hot, it was originally developed as an anesthetic. That\u2019s right, it has been shown to numb skin on contact, leaving scientists to theorize that it could prove useful for pain relief (just don\u2019t touch your eyes!) and desensitization of tissues prior to certain medical procedures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Dragon\u2019s Breath pepper was further cultivated by a Welsh farmer named Mike Smith who claims to have arrived at its nearly 2.5 million Scoville unit heat level completely by accident, causing the Carolina Reaper to be knocked off of top spot it previously held. Accident or not, it seems Smokin\u2019 Ed Currie took the arrival of the Dragon\u2019s Breath as an act of pepper war, announcing the existence of his Pepper X just a few short months later.<\/span><\/p>\n Its time at the top may have been short-lived, but the Dragon\u2019s Breath pepper is still one to take <\/span>your <\/span><\/i>breath away, should you ever find yourself taking a taste.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 1.57 Million Scoville Heat Units (SHU)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n After working our way through the top three hottest peppers in the world, each of which contains well over 2 million Scoville units of fiery heat, the Carolina Reaper pepper almost looks a bit tame. Don\u2019t let this fool you though. Coming in at nearly 1.6 million SHU, one dab of the Carolina Reaper will still blow your socks off. This chili is yet another one from Ed Currie, and fondly named for the state of its cultivation: South Carolina!<\/span><\/p>\n It was the world\u2019s hottest chili pepper in years past but sadly, the doom-inducing Carolina Reaper has fallen all the way to the number 4 spot in recent years. Interestingly though, the Carolina Reaper <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> still the official hottest pepper as far as Guinness world records is concerned, as they have yet to validate any claims made by any of the top three. We\u2019re guessing that just like everyone else, they might have quite a lot on their plate and will get to validating those pepper records in due time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 1.4 Million Scoville Heat Units (SHU)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Halfway through our countdown and we arrive at number five: the Komodo Dragon pepper! Perhaps most infamous for the way it lulls you into a false sense of security at first, delivering a tasty bite of bright, fruity flavor before cranking up the dial to torch your tongue and taste buds!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This spicy chili pepper hails from the United Kingdom, and unlike other peppers that have Scoville counts in the millions, the Komodo Dragon pepper was actually stocked by regular everyday supermarkets! Imagine walking into your local grocery store and scoring a pack of peppers with <\/span>this<\/span><\/i> level of heat?<\/span><\/p>\n Luckily, its appearance is just like that of other extremely hot peppers–no surprises there. Komodo Dragon peppers start out green, maturing into a fire-engine red, and have a squat, rumply shape much like that of a habanero. The shocking part? It is over 6 times hotter than the red savina habanero–the hottest habanero out there. Needless to say, don\u2019t go mixing the two up.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 1.39 Million Scoville Heat Units (SHU)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you have done any reading or research on hot peppers prior to arriving here at our humble article, you have likely encountered the term \u201c7-pot\u201d before. The 7-pot pepper originated and evolved on the island of Trinidad, where it earned its name for the fact that 1 single pepper packs plenty of heat to season seven pots of stew.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There are now many different strains of 7-pot peppers, including this one, the 7-pot Douglah. Also known as the Chocolate 7-pot, this alternative name gives away one of the best surprises that this hot pepper keeps. Initially green in coloring, this little pepper ripens to a deep, chocolatey-brown with tinges of red as it ages. Various 7-pot peppers have held places on the top 10 lists over the years but with an average of almost 1.4 million SHU, the Douglah is one of the hottest ever produced by this small island country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 1.38 Million Scoville Heat Units (SHU)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Naga Viper pepper. Yet another fallen champion! Previously holding the Guinness World Records title of world\u2019s hottest chili, it was kicked out of first place in 2017 by the Carolina Reaper. Despite this fall from grace, the Naga Viper chili remains one of the absolute hottest peppers in the world, essentially on par with the 7-pot Douglah in the number 6 spot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As another product of the United Kingdom, the Naga Viper is the result of crossbreeding several other super-hot chilis, namely the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion and the Ghost pepper, both of which we\u2019ll have more on in a moment!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 1.2 Million Scoville Heat Units (SHU)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Speaking of the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper, here we are! Straight out of prime hot pepper (and hot weather, for that matter!) territory comes the Trinidad Scorpion pepper. In a manner similar to that of the Komodo Dragon pepper, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion has a rather sweet taste out of the gate, but then slowly turns caustic as the capsaicin within the chili works its way into your taste buds.<\/span><\/p>\n It was not for the pain-inducing 1.2 million SHU that this pepper earned its venomous name, rather, it was thought that the pointed end of this chili pepper resembled that of a scorpion. Whether you agree with the resemblance, it doesn’t take a pepper expert to take a glance at this thing and feel at least a small pang of fear.<\/span><\/p>\n There are several pepper variations within the Trinidad Scorpion family, including the Trinidad Scorpion Butch pepper as well as the Trinidad Chocolate Scorpion, which tends to be the hottest of all. While it\u2019s true that Scorpion peppers originated in the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad & Tobago, the peppers actually grow quite well in most regions of the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 1.07 Million Scoville Heat Units (SHU)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yet another 7-pot pepper makes our top 10 list! This superhot chili pepper, although it shares roots with the other 7-pot peppers from Trinidad, is considered to have been created in England by a breeder named Nick Woods. The other pepper varieties in his greenhouse happened to crossbreed themselves, the result of which took him by surprise when he went to taste the new pepper that showed in his row of pepper plants.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n
How We Rank Hot Peppers<\/b><\/h2>\n
A Word on Scoville Units<\/b><\/h3>\n
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The Top 10 Hottest Peppers in the World<\/b><\/h2>\n
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1. Pepper X<\/b><\/h3>\n
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2. Apollo Pepper<\/b><\/h3>\n
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3. Dragon\u2019s Breath Pepper<\/b><\/h3>\n
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4. Carolina Reaper Pepper<\/b><\/h3>\n
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5. Komodo Dragon Pepper<\/b><\/h3>\n
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6. 7-Pot Douglah Pepper<\/b><\/h3>\n
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7. Naga Viper Pepper<\/b><\/h3>\n
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8. Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Pepper<\/b><\/h3>\n
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9. 7-Pot Infinity Pepper<\/b><\/h3>\n