A decade ago, the hot pepper expert Ed Currie was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for creating the Carolina Reaper, a bright red fruit with a “scorpion tail”, as risk takers like to call it.
Ten years later, the South Carolina aficionado has done it again. His latest creation, Pepper X, was named the hottest pepper in the world on Oct. 9.
Image credits: TIME
While not all of us are willing to try it, we can still get a glimpse of its effects by comparing it to other products in the Scoville Heat Units scale. A habanero registers 100,000 units, whereas the Carolina Reaper scores a whopping 1.64 million units.
Pepper X, a crossbreed of a Carolina Reaper and a pepper that one of Currie’s friends sent from Michigan, scores 2.69 million units. That’s even higher than pepper sprays administered by police, which score 1.6 million units.
The greenish vegetable is hotter than a police pepper spray
Image credits: TIME
Image credits: smokined
Only five people have dared to eat an entire Pepper X. The creator’s account of the agonizing experience is a clear indicator of why that number isn’t higher.
As he explained, the greenish vegetable delivers “immediate, brutal heat.”
“I was feeling the heat for three-and-a-half hours. Then the cramps came,” he told ABC. “Those cramps are horrible. I was laid out flat on a marble wall for approximately an hour in the rain, groaning in pain.”
His past creation, the Carolina Reaper, registered 1.64 million units in the Scoville Heat Units scale, compared to Pepper X's 2.69 units
Image credits: firstwefeast
He also warned youngsters about taking a bite out of the deadly pepper—or any other extremely hot pepper—for internet challenges, which he believes to be stupid.
Those wanting to venture into the hot pepper universe must take it one at a time instead of starting with a Carolina Reaper or Pepper X. “You build up a tolerance," he explained.
Currie said that Pepper X provides "immediate, brutal heat" and that he felt the burning heat for three-and-a-half hours
Image credits: First We Feast
The burning sensation we feel after consuming hot peppers comes from a chemical called capsaicin. Human minds perceive it as a threat, which is why they send a strong burning signal to the body. As birds don’t feel this heat, they can spread pepper seeds without feeling pain.
Only five people in the world have eaten an entire Pepper X
Image credits: First We Feast
Looking at this reaction, it's pretty obvious why that is
Image credits: First We Feast
As opposed to the previous decade, Currie now wants to reap the rewards of his newly created veg.
Over the past ten years, many people grew the Carolina Reaper, and thousands of companies profited from using the pepper’s name. Therefore, the pepper expert has decided not to commercialize Pepper X seeds until he has found the legal means to benefit from the sales.
Ed Currie took his latest creation to First We Feast's famous show, 'Hot Ones'
Image credits: First We Feast
You can watch Ed show off his tongue-burning achievement in the video below
His decade-long commitment to creating the vegetable included five years of testing and documenting its average heat over different plants and generations. “We covered the genetics, we covered the chemistry, we covered the botany,” he said.
Currie’s passion for growing peppers began as a way to overcome his drug and alcohol addiction. Unlike toxic substances, he says, the high that peppers provide is 100% natural.
While some bold individuals said they wanted to try the pepper, others simply passed
