2 Guys Tackle the World’s Hottest Chili Pepper

Up until recently, the hottest pepper in the world was the one in the photo above. The Bhut Jolokia, reigned supreme in the world as the chili with the biggest punch. It was measured on the Scoville Scale ( a measurement of a chili's spiciness) at between 855,000-1,041,427 SHU (Scoville Heat Units). To help put that into perspective, a common sweet bell pepper, or green pepper, measures in at 0-100 SHU.

Well, the Bhut Jolokia's position as king of the hill came to an end in August of 2013, when it was dethroned by The Carolina Reaper, grown by Ed Currie of Puckerbutt Pepper Company in South Carolina.

The Guinness Book of World Records:

The hottest chilli is Smokin Ed's 'Carolina Reaper', grown by The PuckerButt Pepper Company (USA), which rates at an average of 1,569,300 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), according to tests conducted by Winthrop University in South Carolina, USA, throughout 2012. The Scoville Unit (SHU) scale is a method of quantifying a substance's 'spiciness', through determining the concentration of the chemical compounds responsible for the sensation, which are named capsaicinoids.

That 1,569,300 figure is an average. Some Carolina Reapers have hit 2,200,000 on the Scoville Scale. For more perspective, the Carolina Reaper is, on average, over 440 times hotter than a jalapeno pepper.

Now, here are two first-class idiots really brave and adventurous dudes eating a couple of Carolina Reapers:

As anyone who likes spicy food can attest, these two are going to enjoy those peppers...twice.