What's The World's Hottest Pepper?

The hunt for the spiciest foods is a passion for pepper aficionados all over the world. That begs the question, how do we tell which peppers are the spiciest? Also, does anyone regularly eat these? Is it dangerous to eat super spicy peppers?

How We Measure "Spiciness"

To figure out how spicy something is, we have to determine how densely capsaicin is packed into the pepper. Capsaicin is the chemical that gives peppers their burn, and actually exists to discourage insects from eating them.

The most effective test uses liquid chromatography to determine capsaicin content by parts per million. Though this test is effective, it's not the most well-known, or the most prolifically used. That would be the Scoville test.

The Scoville scale works by soaking a specific weight of dried pepper in water and then repeatedly diluting it to determine how much dilution is required to make the capsaicin undetectable to a panel of approved tasters. This empirical approach is relatively accurate considering how low-tech it is, and is widely understood as the way pungency is measured.

Because of this, hot sauces and peppers are often still primarily classified in terms of scoville heat units (SHU).

Here the answer "What is the hottest pepper?"

As the first pepper to be consistently rated above one million Scoville units, the Ghost pepper was considered the hottest pepper in the world for years until it was unseated by the Carolina Reaper in 2015.

The carolina reaper measures in at over 1.2 million Scoville units, narrowly beating the ghost pepper. Unfortunately, while they're great for a dare, these peppers are so hot that regular consumption can have serious side effects and lead to acid reflux, nausea, and heartburn. They'll even cause significant skin irritation (even on the tougher skin on your hands) if they're handled without gloves.

While the pain of eating one of these can certainly be extreme, it would take nearly 3 pounds of dried ghost pepper to deliver a lethal dose of capsaicin for a human.

What to Cook With

For a nice burn that doesn't require special handling during the cooking process, spice lovers often turn to the habanero in the Americas, or the scotch bonnet pepper in the Caribbean and Africa, which are both still about 15 times hotter than the mild jalapeno.

Everyone has a different amount of pain receptors in their mouth, so sometimes really hot peppers just aren't for you. A lot of spice fans won't even notice that mild peppers like Poblanos even contain capsaicin, because regular pepper consumption slowly kills off their pain receptors.

However spicy you like your food, hot peppers are a great way to add a bit of life to our dinners, and are an integral part of cuisines from all over the world. Let us know in the comments what your favorite peppers are, and how you like to eat them!