5 World’s Hottest Chili Peppers
Bhut Jolokia (Photo Credit: Thaumaturgist / CC BY-SA 3.0)
Carolina Reaper, USA
The Carolina Reaper is a cultivar of chili pepper of the Capsicum chinense species, originally named the “HP22BNH”. As of 2015, it is officially the world’s hottest pepper. The “Carolina Reaper” has been rated as the world’s hottest chili pepper by Guinness World Records since August 7, 2013. It averages a 1,569,300 on the Scoville scale with peak levels of over 2,200,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHUs).
Carolina Reaper Pepper (Photo Credit: Dale Thurber / CC BY-SA 3.0)
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, Trinidad
The Trinidad moruga scorpion is native to the district of Moruga in Trinidad and Tobago. On August 7, 2013, Guinness World Records rated the Carolina Reaper the world’s hottest pepper with a mean heat of more than 1.2 million Scoville heat units (SHUs) and individual plants with a heat of more than 2 million SHUs. The previous record holder was the bhut jolokia of India. The current world record holder is the Carolina Reaper.
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion (Photo Credit: Hankwang / CC BY-SA 3.0)
Bhut Jolokia, India
The bhut jolokia also known as bih jolokia, u-morok, ghost pepper, ghost chili pepper, red naga chili, Naga Jolokia and ghost chili. It is an interspecific hybrid chili pepper cultivated in Bangladesh and Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. In 2007, Guinness World Records certified that the ghost pepper was the world’s hottest chili pepper, 401.5 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. The ghost chili is rated at more than 1 million Scoville heat units (SHUs).
Bhoot Jolokia, Ghost Chili Pepper (Photo Credit: Vikramjit Kakati / CC BY-SA 4.0)
Trinidad Scorpion Butch T Pepper, Trinidad
The Trinidad scorpion ‘Butch T’ pepper is a Capsicum chinense cultivar that is among the most piquant peppers. The “scorpion” peppers are referred to as such because the pointed end of the pepper is said to resemble a scorpion’s stinger. According to Guinness World Records, the Trinidad scorpion ‘Butch T’ pepper was for three years, ranked as the most hot pepper in the world. In March 2011 this pepper measured a specimen at 1,463,700 Scoville heat units(SHUs).
Trinidad Scorpion Butch T Pepper (Photo Credit: Kouya / CC BY-SA 4.0)
Naga Viper Pepper, England
The Naga Viper pepper is one of the hottest chili peppers ever measured. It was briefly the “World’s Hottest Chilli” in 2011 according to the Guinness World Records with a rating of 1,382,118 Scoville Heat Units (SHUs). The Naga Viper was created in England by chilli farmer Gerald Fowler of The Chilli Pepper Company in Cark, Cumbria.
