Carolina Reaper

1.4 million to 2.2 million Scoville Heat Units on average, with individual peppers documented over 2.4 million. That's roughly 200–400 times hotter than a jalapeño, and 5–15 times hotter than a habanero. Pepper X (also bred by Ed Currie) is now the official record holder at 2.69 million SHU.

Surprisingly fruity for the first 2–3 seconds — sweet tropical notes that read like very ripe stone fruit. Then the capsaicin arrives, and most flavor perception disappears for the next 10–20 minutes. Ed Currie deliberately bred for a fruit-forward flavor profile, not just heat — but the heat is so extreme that most people only register the front-of-palate sweetness.

Ed Currie, founder of Puckerbutt Pepper Company in Fort Mill, South Carolina. He started the breeding project in the early 2000s, crossing a Pakistani Naga with a Red Habanero and selecting for both maximum capsaicin and stable flavor character. The pepper was officially certified by Guinness in 2013.

In tiny culinary quantities, yes. Whole-pepper challenges have caused documented medical emergencies including thunderclap headaches, severe gastrointestinal distress, and at least one case of a vasoconstriction stroke-like episode. Don't eat one whole. In a hot sauce or curry where one pepper is divided across many servings, the heat is intense but manageable.