The world's hottest pepper scores 2.69 million on the Scoville scale

Chili heat is quantified on the Scoville scale, devised by American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville in 1912. Originally, a pepper extract was diluted in sugar water until trained tasters could no longer detect any burn; the dilution factor became its rating in Scoville Heat Units (SHU). A bell pepper scores 0; a jalapeno around 3,500.

At the extreme end sits Pepper X. In 2023, Guinness World Records crowned it the world’s hottest chili pepper, averaging 2,693,000 SHU - roughly 64% hotter than the previous champion, the Carolina Reaper (1.64 million SHU).

Pepper X is now officially the world’s hottest chilli pepper, rating at an average of 2,693,000 Scoville Heat Units.

Bred over a decade by Ed Currie and verified by Winthrop University in South Carolina, Pepper X owes its punishing heat to ridged, wrinkled flesh that maximises the placental tissue where capsaicin is concentrated.