Image of a hand holding up a small hot pepper while flames decorate background

Pepper X is small but has a lot of heat!

Jeffrey Collins/AP Images (pepper); Shutterstock.com (flames)

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Turning Up the Heat

Anyone who doesn’t like spicy food will want to avoid Pepper X. It was named the world’s hottest chili pepper by Guinness World Records. Pepper X is nearly twice as spicy as the previous record holder, the Carolina Reaper. 

A pepper’s heat is measured in Scoville heat units (SHU). Jalapeño peppers score from 2,500 to 8,000 SHU. That’s low compared with Pepper X’s average score: 2.69 million SHU! 

Both Pepper X and the Reaper were developed by Ed Currie. He warns people to think twice before trying Pepper X. 

“A Reaper usually takes me about a half hour to recover from,” Currie told Scientific American. “Pepper X took me five to six hours.”

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