Carolina Reaper Chilli

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.