Have you ever heard of The Carolina Reaper pepper? If you haven’t yet, well, sit back and enjoy the hot and spicy ride while we delve deeper into one of the spiciest peppers on Earth.
The Carolina Reaper pepper was bred in Rock Hill, South Carolina by “Smokin” Ed Currie who is the proprietor of PuckerButt Pepper Company. The pepper ranges in size from 1 to 2 inches wide (2.5 – 5 cm) and 2 to 3 inches (5 – 7.6cm) long. They mature to a vibrant red color. The skin has a bumpy texture. It’s name “Reaper” comes from the shape of its tail as it resembles the scythe famously carried by the Grim Reaper.
It was certified as the world’s hottest chili pepper by Guinness World Records on August 11, 2017 with a Scoville Heat Units (SHU) of 1,641,183. This was an average of the tested batch with the hottest individual pepper measuring at 2.2 million SHU. Now that’s HOT!
How does this compare to other hot peppers? Take your average jalapeno pepper. It comes in at 5,000 on the Scoville scale. While the Ghost Pepper’s heat rage is between 855,000-1,041,427.
It was crossbred between a La Soufriere pepper from the island of Saint Vincent and a Naga Viper pepper from Pakistan. Upon first bite, the taste is described as having a fruity taste, which quickly descends into a mouth of horrors described as “molten lava”.
This is exactly why we have included the Carolina Reaper pepper in our Hot-Winged Reaper and our Black Widow’s Bite flavors. The sweet flavor and intense heat this pepper provides is other worldly. So, let’s kick up those endorphins and bite into a Carolina Reaper pepper for a journey you won’t soon forget.