You may have get word one of thosecrazed contestson YouTube or at a fair where people " compete " to eat as many hot pepper as potential . For instance , in May 2017 , a competitive eater who go by the name LA Beast specify a Guinness World Record for rust themostghost peppersin two minutes — 13 . Ghost white pepper , for those of you that do n’t cognise , are some of the hot in the world and rate 1 million per pepper on theScovilleheat exfoliation ( a scientific standard of how red-hot a common pepper is ) . To put things in perspective , that ’s at least 100 times hotter than a jalapeño , which ranks anywhere between about 2,500 and 8,000 Scoville social unit .

Butghost peppersaren’t even the hot . That honor formally belong to the Carolina Reaper , which earned its claim as the hottest peppercorn in the human race — beating out a pepper called the Trinidad Scorpion — in 2013 . Carolina Reapers rate 2.2 million on the Scoville heating plant scale of measurement .

In 2017 , a new pepper , known only asPepper Xcame on the setting , rating about 3.2 million Scoville units . It took 10 twelvemonth to develop ; as of 2020 , Guinness World Records ( which had earlier crown the Carolina Reaper as the hot pepper)had not yet confirmedthat Pepper X was now the hottest pepper .

flaming pepper

Which bring us to these inquiry : Why this sideline of developing hotter and hotter pepper ? And who is eating them ?

For result , it make sense to go to the man responsible for developing both Pepper X and The Smokin ' Ed Carolina Reaper ( that ’s a trademarked name , by the way ): Ed Currie . He goes by Smokin ' Ed , and he describe himself as owner , chairperson , frantic scientist and chef atPuckerButt Pepper Companyin South Carolina .

" For the world-wide world , [ hot sauce ] is a condiment , " Currie aver , when we mouth to him in 2018 . " masses start with sauce like Tabasco , and they are skilful sauces , but they are n’t really hot . People modernize a tolerance for them , and they desire something more . "

Scoville scale

Who Eats This Stuff?

Currie tell there are three kind of people who sleep with eating first-rate - hot sauce . The first include the escapade seeker , hoi polloi who see utmost eating as a kind of YOLO challenge . " Risk - takers , extreme rockers , those people who perceive eating top-notch - red-hot pepper as anextreme variation . It ’s a challenge of something they want to overcome , " Currie said .

A second chemical group is made of the competition — the people you see on YouTube or take out a crowd at a fair . You ’ll often see them throw up at the end of their telecasting . " What ’s making them sick is the gallon of Milk River they ’re drinking too fast , not the capsicum , " Currie said . " There ’s no literal rut in a pepper . The passion is a result of a chemical reaction that happens in your body , triggered by capsaicinoids in the peppers reacting with sensory neuron . Our organic structure perceive the heat . "

The third group ? Well they are often multitude who are actually recovering fromdrug dependence . Capsaicinoids , of which there are about 22 to 23 types , trigger your body to release Dopastat andendorphins , both of which result in a sense of euphoria — a Benjamin Rush .

Hot Peppers for Your Health

help oneself people face aesculapian challenges , like defeat addiction , is what ram Currie ’s pursuit of capsicum pepper plant that moderate more capsaicinoids . He get originate peppers in the ' 80s after learning that , in civilization where people eat hot peppers on a regular basis with meals , there are lower incidences of disease such as center disease and cancer . " That would be awing if peppers could help multitude through withdrawal , " said Currie , who ’s been involve to ply black pepper for aesculapian research .

There are other potential medical benefits to hot white pepper , too , include improved eternal sleep , vascular health , appetite ascendence and improvedmetabolism . In fact , researchers in several countries are looking at how capsaicin and other compounds in peppers might evenhelp push corpulency .

With the hope that capsicum pepper plant might be able to help the great unwashed live sizable , you’re able to see why Currie has n’t stopped fiddle yet — and he was vague about what ’s after Pepper X for PuckerButt . " We have a bunch of surprises coming . "