Is it getting hot in here? The world’s hottest chilli was named by the Guinness World Records in 2023 – and is still the reigning champ. Pepper X (formerly known as Pepper Twitter) is the diabolical creation of Carolina-based Ed Currie, who said the chilli left him with horrible cramps and he was still reeling three hours after consuming it.

Pepper X outweighs the former world’s hottest Carolina Reaper by more than one million Scoville units. The Carolina Reaper – also a creation of madman Currie – weighs in at 1.64m Scoville units. Pepper X lands at a whopping 2.69 million.

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The spiciness of a chilli is measured on what is known as the Scoville scale, which was established by the pharmacist Wilbur Scoville in 1912. The scale measures the concentration of capsaicin, the primary component of a chilli that makes it spicy.

Capsaicin “causes a burning sensation when it makes contact with human tissue”, according to Guinness World Records, who announced the new reigning chilli in 2023.

In contrast, an average jalapeño sits around a wimpy 5,000 Scoville units.

If you’ve got designs on trying Pepper X, you’ll be hard-pressed to find it. Currie is fiercely protective of his magnum opus, and will not be releasing the pods or seeds to the world, or the secret formula. Currie only revealed on Sean Evan’s Youtube series Hot Ones that it is a hybrid of a Carolina Reaper and a chilli a friend sent him that was “brutally hot.”

Consumers are able to now test Pepper X in the form of commercially sold hot sauce.

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