A variety of the Capsicum chinense plant is called the Carolina Reaper. The pepper, which was created by American breeder Ed Currie, is red, gnarled, has a rough texture, and has a short, pointed tail. It surpassed the Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T” for the title of hottest chili pepper in the world according to Guinness World Records in 2017.
The Pungency of Carolina Reaper Pepper
The hybrid between a Naga Viper pepper from Pakistan and a “very nastily fiery” La Soufriere pepper from Saint Vincent was given the moniker “Reaper” because of the way its tail is shaped. It has been characterized as tasting fruity, with the first bite being sweet before changing into “molten lava” right away. The density of capsaicinoids, notably capsaicin, which is directly related to the strength of chili pepper heat and the Scoville scale, is what causes the sensory heat or pungency experienced while eating a Carolina Reaper. Ed Currie, owner of the Puckerbutt Pepper Company in Fort Mill, South Carolina, developed the pepper in a greenhouse there. On August 11, 2017, Guinness World Records recognized it as the hottest chili pepper in the world. According to measurements carried out by Winthrop University in South Carolina, the official Guinness World Record heat level in 2017 was 1,641,183 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). The hottest pepper recorded at 2.2 million SHU is included in the average for the tested batch.
With his Dragon’s Breath pepper, which he produced with Nottingham Trent University and was estimated to have 2.4 million SHUs, Welsh breeder Mike Smith of St Asaph claimed to have topped the Carolina Reaper in May 2017. Smith then applied to Guinness World Records for certification. Four months later, Currie asserted to have developed the 3.18 million SHU Pepper X, a more potent pepper.
The Cultivation of Carolina Reaper Pepper
According to English ethnobotanist James Wong, the pepper is “a fine all-rounder to try at home” for cultivating. He noted that the plant needs temperatures of at least 18–20 °C (64–68 °F) and that growing it in 30–40 cm (12–16 in) pots will help it bear fruit more quickly. Two peppers fill the palm of the hand when they are fully ripe. On the other hand, there are pepper that you can add to your exotic vegetable in your diet.
The Hottest Pepper in Year 2021
The Carolina Reaper will continue to be the hottest pepper in 2021. The vile Carolina Reaper is still expected to hold the Guinness World Record for being the hottest pepper in 2021. Unless someone decides to spend the money to have a pepper tested before the end of 2020, which we firmly believe is unlikely in this era of Covid-19. Since the Reaper grabbed the top spot in 2013, no one has succeeded in breaking this record with any of the newly developed peppers because it is difficult and expensive to test peppers to enter the Guinness Book of Records. Many pepper breeders assert that their peppers are hotter than the Reaper, but none have received the Guinness seal of approval as of yet.
Carolina Reaper Pepper vs. Scorpion Pepper
1. Which is Hotter?
As super-hot chilies, scorpion peppers and Carolina Reapers are both considerably hotter than the typical jalapeño. However, by a wide measure, Carolina reaper is the hotter of the two. The scorpion pepper was once the spiciest in the world, but the Carolina Reaper beat it out in 2013. Despite potential rivals in the emergence of unstable hybrids like Pepper X and Dragon’s Breath, the Carolina Reaper won the top rank and has held it ever since. The Scoville heat unit (SHU) measurement of a scorpion pepper is approximately 1.2 million, with hotter varieties reaching up to 2 million SHU. The Carolina Reaper has a maximum SHU of 2.2 million and an average of 1.6 million SHU.
In other case, most individuals shouldn’t seek out high heat levels. Considerable eaters should avoid this level of spiciness, and extreme caution should be used when handling either of these extremely hot peppers. To prevent serious chili burn, it’s advisable to wear cooking gloves, goggles, and even a kitchen mask.
Which Is More Popular?
By taking into account worldwide monthly internet searches, we will decide the popularity contest. It will let us gauge the level of interest in each chili on a whole.
The Scorpion Pepper, with 23,000 searches per month, and the Trinidad Moruga Scorpio Pepper, with 12,000 searches per month, together, are both significantly less popular than the Carolina Reaper pepper, which receives 396,000 global searches per month. In fact, the Reaper may be the chili pepper that people look for the most online. It should be noted, though, that 35,000 searches in total for just two scorpion pepper phrases are not to be laughed at. That’s still a lot of attention, just not quite as much as the Reaper is now receiving online.
How Does Each Of These Peppers Taste?
The delicate fruity flavor of Carolina Reapers is typically immediately overshadowed by the pepper’s extreme heat. The same delayed spiciness that gradually builds to ever-more-painful degrees is present in The Carolina Reaper.
Scotch bonnet peppers’ delicious flavor is comparable to that of scorpion peppers, although scorpion peppers are more hotter. The scorpion pepper’s intensity is comparable to other really hot peppers in that you don’t immediately get the full impact of the capsaicin. Over a short period of time, it intensifies to the point that you might be enticed to keep eating by adding more and more of the scorching chemical to your mouth, only for it to then reach panic-inducing proportions. If you want something more tasteful for your meals, might as well you can add paprika. There’s also a lot of benefits in paprika that you can get.
How Do They Differ In Shape and Colors?
The lobes on scorpion peppers are similar to those on Scotch bonnets, and they are brilliant red and squat in shape. Additionally, they have a little, pointed tail. Scorpion peppers are between two and three inches long and around 1.5 inches broad.
Critics have questioned the stability of the Carolina Reaper variety because of how drastically their appearance can change. While some species of Carolina Reapers are lobed like scotch bonnets and scorpion peppers, others are more elongated like ghost peppers, commonly known as the bhut jolokia pepper.
Where Did Each Pepper Originate?
While Scorpion peppers were first developed in Moruga, a village in Trinidad, the Carolina Reaper comes from Ed Currie, a pepper farmer from South Carolina (and the founder of Puckerbutt Pepper Company) who has developed — along with his peppers — a reputation for breeding super hots including the aforementioned Pepper X. They were created by Wahid Ogeer, a farmer who learned on his own.
Which is Used Most Often in Commercial Products?
Scorpion peppers are only used in a small number of commercial items nowadays because the Carolina Reaper has long surpassed them in terms of SHU rating and popularity. Numerous hot sauces, salsas, and powders, as well as flavored nuts and chips, are among the commercial items made by Carolina Reaper.