These People Tried the World’s Hottest Pepper — And It’s Hilarious
These People Tried the World’s Hottest Pepper — And It’s Hilarious
Sure, some like it hot, but the question is — how hot? When it comes to peppers, the spice level can run the gamut from sweet and mild, to ludicrously hot (hi, habaneros).
This spiciness level is measured in Scoville Heat Units, or SHU. A pimento pepper has an SHU of 100-500; a jalapeño, 2,500-8,000 SHU. On the higher end of the heat spectrum, red habaneros have 350,000-577,000 SHU. The notoriously hot ghost pepper has a staggering SHU of about 1 million.
But 2 million SHU — that’s just crazy talk, right? Enter, the Carolina Reaper.
The Reaper, which has held the record for the world’s hottest pepper since 2013, is grown by Ed Currie of PuckerButt Pepper Co. in South Carolina — and in case it wasn’t clear, it’s insanely spicy.
On the Scoville heat scale, the pepper has an average spiciness of 1.5 million SHU, and peaks at over 2.2 million SHU. By comparison, standard grade U.S. pepper spray has an SHU between 2 and 5 million.
The PuckerButt website describes what one might come to expect when eating the Reaper: “an instant level of heat never before achieved continuing with an increasing tidal wave of scorching fire that grips you from head to toe. Eyes glaze. Brows perspire. Arms flail. CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION!” Sounds… pleasant.
So who would eat this bite of pure insanity? Why, Buzzfeed, of course.
In the video above, a few unfortunate souls taste the pepper for themselves, and what transpires is pretty hilarious.
“I feel like I’m about to get physically hurt,” one taster says before taking the plunge. She wasn’t far off.
The reactions to the pepper range from the poetic, “It feels like hornets are stinging my mouth,” to the classic, “Could I die?”
After watching their reactions, we can’t say we’re itching to try the Carolina Reaper for ourselves. However, if you’re ready to take a walk on the spicy side, a variety of Reaper hot sauces are available online. Good luck with that.
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