South Carolina’s Pepper X Crowned World’s Hottest Pepper And I Tried It
Move over, Carolina Reaper. There’s a new hottest pepper in town. According to Fox News the Guinness World Record for “hottest chili pepper” has been awarded to a spicy nightshade called “Pepper X”. To get an idea of how hot this little guy is, a jalapeño pepper comes in at 5,000 the Scoville Heat Units (SHU) scale, the reaper comes in at 1,640,000 million, and the dreaded Pepper X clocks in at 2,693,000.
You know what’s funny? About 5 years ago, we had “World Record Week” on our morning show and because I love hot sauce, my world record was to try the Carolina Reaper. Which at the time was the hottest pepper in the world. Creator “Smokin” Ed Currie came into the studio with Carolina Reaper sauces level 4-10!
Each hot sauce became increasingly hotter than the next, but I made it through, and dare I say I even enjoyed it. That is until Ed was so impressed with my pain tolerance that he pulled out Reaper oil which is the hottest form because of the concentration.
This is where I wanted to tap out, but I felt pressured to hold my hot card. So I tried it, and when I say it was the hottest thing I have EVER had, that is no exaggeration! But I made it through…
After the camera stopped rolling, Ed had one more thing he wanted me to try. That’s when it happened! He pulled out the Pepper X. This was an experiment that he had been working on. It was going to replace the Carolina Reaper as the hottest pepper in the world. Now, mind you, this was five years ago, and the Pepper X was JUST recognized as the hottest this month. I was one of the first people EVER to try it.
So what was it like?
It was no joke. I felt an inferno in my body from head to toe! It burned for HOURS! I had to legit lie on the cold concrete floor in my office for hours until my body stopped convulsing from the pain. I thought I was going to have to go to the hospital.
Ed said similar things about the pepper X. This thing isn’t just hot…it’s painful. Ed Currie, the owner of Puckerbutt Pepper Company who created Pepper X says, “I was feeling the heat for three-and-a-half hours. Then the cramps came.” He adds, “Those cramps are horrible. I was laid out flat on a marble wall for approximately an hour in the rain, groaning in pain.”
I mean, if it was that hot for the creator… I’m not so sure we should be selling that thing in the first place! But I appreciate Ed thinking I can hang! Here is the video from our World Record Week below!
