Pepper X Named Hottest Chili Pepper In The World

Pepper X has officially been deemed the hottest chili pepper in the world, according to Guinness World Records.

To determine the heat of Pepper X, Guinness officials used the Scoville Scale, which was designed in 1912 and measures the concentration of the pepper’s spicy chemical compounds, capsaicinoids.

Pepper X measured an average of 2.693 million Scoville Heat Units. For comparison, a jalapeno measures 2,000 to 8,000, and serrano peppers between 10,000 and 23,000.

Ed Currie, founder of PuckerButt Pepper Company in South Carolina, appeared on the popular YouTube show Hot Ones to receive the Guinness award and talk more about the small, wrinkly pepper.

“There’s an intense burn that happens immediately,” Currie said, describing the feeling of eating an entire Pepper X. “Then your head kind of feels like, ‘Oh no! What’s going on?’ And then your body just started reacting. You get it in your arms, you get it in your chest.”