If you look on the internet, you’ll find millions of videos of people partaking in hot pepper-eating challenges. The experience often includes sweating, panting, and even hallucinating! Pepper pungency is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHU) with these being some of the hottest of the bunch.
Trinidad Scorpion Butch T—1,463,700 SHU
For years, this was regarded as the hottest pepper in the world. The chili hails from Trinidad and Tobago where the cultivator of the pepper believes that fertilizing the soil with the liquid runoff of a worm farm may be a contributor to its immense heat.
California Reaper—2,200,000 SHU
The California Reaper holds the official Guinness World Record for the hottest pepper, overtaking the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T in 2017. Deceptively, the chili is sweet at first bite, but your mouth will soon feel like it has been filled with molten lava!
Dragon’s Breath—2,480,000 SHU
Although Guinness World Records has so far not recognized its claim as the world’s most piquant pepper, the Dragon’s Breath is taking no prisoners with its SHU rating of 2.48 million. The chili is so hot that it has the ability to numb the skin, making it useful as an anaesthetic for patients who cannot tolerate other anaesthetics, or in countries where they are too expensive.
