Carolina Reaper Chilli
The world's hottest chilli for a decade - and still the most famous superhot ever bred
The most famous chilli on earth - Guinness World Record holder 2013-2023, bred by Ed Currie of PuckerButt Pepper Company. Sweet, fruity, and genuinely fearsome.
Handle with care — this is a superhot chilli
This variety is exceptionally hot. The capsaicin in superhot chillies can cause real discomfort and even burns to skin and eyes, so a few simple precautions make all the difference when handling the fresh or dried fruit:
- Wear disposable gloves whenever you cut, deseed, or handle the fruit
- Keep your hands well away from your eyes, nose, and face while working
- Never touch contact lenses with hands that have handled the fruit
- Work in a well-ventilated space — the fumes from cooking or drying can irritate the lungs and eyes
- Wash hands, knives, and boards thoroughly with soapy water afterwards
- Keep fresh and dried fruit well out of reach of children and pets
The plants themselves are perfectly safe to grow and handle — these precautions apply to the ripe fruit and its seeds.
About this variety
World record holder from 2013 until Ed Currie's own Pepper X took it off him in October 2023, and still the most grown and most recognised superhot there is. Currie spent years at PuckerButt in Fort Mill, South Carolina crossing a Pakistani Naga with a red habanero from St Vincent, chasing a superhot that tasted of something. The working name was HP22B, for Higher Power, pot 22, plant B. The Reaper part came from the curved stinger tail on the pods.
The Guinness-certified average is 1,641,183 Scoville units, with individual pods measured over 2,200,000. A jalapeno sits at about 5,000. What makes it worth growing over the other superhots is that Currie got the flavour he was after: red apple, peach and a trace of cinnamon arrive in the second before the heat does. The pods are small, 5 to 7.5cm, bumpy and wrinkled, ripening green to deep scarlet.
It needs a heated greenhouse or conservatory here. Germination is slow, the pods take 90 to 120 days from flower, and they are only at their best fully red, so patience is the main requirement.
Safety. Wear gloves and eye protection to pick, cut or process the pods. Do not touch your face afterwards, even once washed, because the oil clings for hours. Ventilate the kitchen, since the fumes alone cause coughing and eye irritation. Use a fraction of a pod at a time. Keep it away from children and pets. Do not eat a whole pod or attempt a challenge: people have been hospitalised doing so. If the heat gets away from you, dairy and starch help and water makes it worse.
Plant alongside
Carolina Reaper Chilli pairs beautifully with these kitchen garden companions
