What makes the world’s hottest chillies? According to the American Spice Trade Association, it is the concentration of capsaicin. That’s the stuff which kicks the roof of your mouth, and makes the pain in your body disappear.
So, what are the hottest chillies in the world? It’s not easy to say, because in some part of the world, some farmer may have grown a hybrid chilli that is a hundred times hotter than any chilli on the Guinness Book of World Records, and the world may not know about it yet.
But as of now, these ten contenders are some of the hottest peppers you could ever bite into on your gastronomic travels around the world. Heat in chillies actually has two measures – the ASTA (American Spice Trade Association Pungency Units) and the SHU (Scoville Heat Units).
For reference, Tabasco Sauce is 2,000 SHU. The hottest chillies have a rating between 500,000 and 900,000 SHU. And 1 ASTA pungency unit is equivalent to about 15 SHU.
10. Red Savina Habanero, 350,000 – 577,000 SHU
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These are not the world’s hottest chillies, but when they’re really hot, they can melt your tongue off. It’s simply the Habanero cultivated to make hotter, larger fruit. It was the hottest record-holder between 1994 to 2006, until the Bhut Jolokia displaced it as the hottest chillies in the world.
9. 7 Pot Red Giant, 1,000,000 SHU
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This chilli comes from the town of Chaguanas in Trinidad and Tobago. There is an original 7 Pot Red. As the name suggests, the Giant is a larger version of the original. It’s hot, rare and you could spice up seven pots for a feast with it!
8. 7 Pot Barrackpore, 1,000,000 to 1,300,000 SHU
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This is a spicy pepper from the Barrackpore region in Trinidad. Why the name 7 Pot? It’s because it can add heat and flavor to seven pots of stew! This is one of the hottest peppers with a fruity flavor. It will burn you, but taste great while it does!
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7. Ghost pepper (Bhut Jolokia), 1,041,427 SHU
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The Ghost Pepper used to top the list for world’s hottest chillies in 2007. It’s a chilli that’s originally from India, and is four hundred times hotter than Tabasco Sauce. The name of these peppers – bhut jolokia – actually comes from the word for ‘ghost’ and the word for ‘poison’ in the local Assamese language of North-Eastern India. In that region, the peppers are actually smeared on the fences to keep elephants away! And the Indian army has also used pepper grenades made from this chilli to flush out terrorists from a cave!
6. Naga Viper, 1,382,118 SHU
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This one held the record for the hottest peppers for a short time in 2011. It’s not a very common pepper, and it was grown in the UK after many years of crossing different varieties of peppers: the Naga Morich, the Trinidad Scorpion and the Bhut Jolokia. When you’re the offspring of some of the hottest chillies in the world, you’re bound to inherit a lot of their heat. Sadly, this chilli is not ‘stable’ enough to be commonly found. Note: a ‘stable’ hybrid here means a hybrid that gives you the same quality chillies every time.
5. Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T”, 500,000 to 1,463,700 SHU
Image Credit: Wikipedia
It’s not surprising that some of the hottest chillies are derived from Trinidad peppers. The Scorpion ‘Butch T’ comes from the Trinidad Scorpion, and like the original has a scorpion stinger at the end. It had held the world record for being the hottest peppers in the world for three straight years, before being replaced by the other ones on this list. Here’s an interesting bit of trivia – some of the hottest chillies in the world like the Butch T could be made more piquant by fertilizing the soil with runoff from a worm farm!
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4. 7 Pot Primo, 800,000 to 1,000,000 SHU
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The 7 Pot Primo has a stinger just like the California Reaper, and it’s bright red (though you’ll also find it in yellow, which is a relatively new mutation of the original red and not as hot). It was first grown in Louisiana from Trinidad 7 Pot seeds. It has a fruity flavor and it’s great to grow in your garden, if you’ve got a green thumb!
3. 7 Pot Douglah, 1,853,936 SHU
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This funny-sounding chilli looks deadly. It’s a deep, foreboding brown. And it can be full of flavor, for about a few seconds before the heat kicks in and melts your brain! If you want this chilli sprinkled on your food, you’ll also find it under other names like 7 Pot Brown or Chocolate 7 Pod.
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2. Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, 1,200,000 SHU
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This hot chilli from the Moruga district of Trinidad and Tobago deserves to be second on the list of world’s hottest chillies. 1.2 Million SHU is only an average heat rating. When this chilli outdoes itself, it can pack a punch of over 2 Million SHU. A team of researchers from the New Mexico State University that harvested these face-melting chillies actually had to go through several pairs of latex gloves because the heat would keep soaking through the gloves onto the skin!
1. Carolina Reaper, 1,569,300 SHU
Image Credit: Wikipedia
The Carolina Reaper is officially the world’s hottest chilli, and it’s on the Guinness Book of World Records since 2013. Since the heat in chillies is also affected by how it’s grown, it can even reach a peak heat of 2.2 Million SHU, which is hotter than pepper spray!
This hot little chilli has a mean-looking stinger tail, to warn you of the intense fire it can set off on your tongue! It was grown for heat too, by crossing a Red Habanero with a Pakistani Naga.
Did you like our list of the hottest chillies in the world? Would you try any of these? What’s the spiciest chillies you’ve ever had? Let us know below!
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