The new world's hottest pepper, Pepper X, is 3 times spicier than its predecessor

[usonian]

https://www.npr.org/2023/10/17/1206450553/worlds-hottest-pepper-guinness-record-pepper-x

A small, wrinkly yellow-green pepper known as Pepper X is now officially the hottest chili pepper in the world, according to Guinness World Records.

Ed Currie, founder of PuckerButt Pepper Company in South Carolina, appeared on the YouTube show Hot Ones to receive the Guinness award and announce the spicy new variety to the world.

To measure the intensity of Pepper X, officials at Guinness turned to what's known as the (logarithmic) Scoville Scale. Developed in 1912, the scale determines the heat of a pepper by measuring the concentration of its heat-wielding chemical compounds called capsaicinoids.

Pepper X measures an average of 2.693 million Scoville Heat Units. A jalapeño, by comparison, measures just 2,000 to 8,000 SHUs, while a serrano can land between 10,000 and 23,000 SHUs.

[Bettie]

1. OK, maybe some of you can help me with this

Why?

I like spice in food, but I don't like things so hot that I can't taste anything but hot.

I know guys who will just sit with each other and eat hot peppers like it's a dare, they sit there, red-faced, sweaty, sometimes tears running down their faces....and it doesn't look like they are enjoying any of it.

I do not understand this weird subculture.

[LonePirate]

2. When did gardening transform into weapons manufacturing?

We have reached the point where these peppers are too spicy for human (and animal) consumption. Their only purpose now is weaponization.

[Lunabell]

3. What's the point?

I love hot spicy food, but it's gotta taste good. Indian curries, Thai food, Mexican food, I live to be very spicy. When I order Chinese hot and sour soup, I always ask for extra heat. Some really hot peppers are just hot to be hot and don't have much flavor because you're in such agony that you can't taste anything.

[2naSalit]

4. Ronnie Chieng Doesn't think so!

Skip to 3:58 for relevant part...

?t=244

[usonian]

6. Well done. Pun intended.

🔥🔥🔥 🔥🔥🔥

[Pas-de-Calais]

5. Big nope here

[trof]

7. How hot is just TOO hot?

I don't think we need anything this hot.

[usonian]

8. I was out on field assignment with an Indian guy.

We stopped at an Indian restaurant (in Newark or Fremont CA, so there were lots of them) and he had a dish that had him turning bright red and sweating, so I think we hit max practical heat a long time ago.

Not a heat-seeker, myself. I just posted for the curiosity value.

Grew some 🔥 Habañeros 🔥 from seed a few years back and gave the plants away.