Pepper X

Pepper X is a cultivar of chili pepper recognized by Guinness World Records in 2023 as the world's hottest chili pepper. It was bred by Ed Currie, the creator of the Carolina Reaper.

Pepper X measures an average of 2.693 million Scoville heat units (SHU), beating the previous world record of 1.64 million SHU held by the Carolina Reaper.

Pepper X is a crossbreed of a Carolina Reaper and a pepper sent to Currie by a friend. The curves and ridges of a Pepper X chili create more surface area for its placenta, the tissue that contains capsaicin, to grow.

Currie said that, when he ate a Pepper X chili, he "was feeling the heat for three and a half hours" and then experienced cramps that had him "laid out flat on a marble wall for approximately an hour in the rain, groaning in pain".

Pepper X's heat status has been criticized, because independent testing of the pepper has not been performed.