Carolina Reaper
| SCOVILLE SCORE | 2,200,000 |
| CLASS | Super Hot |
| FAMILY | Capsicum Chinense |
| COLOUR | Red |
| ORIGIN | United States |
| HEAT RATING |  |
| FLAVOUR RATING | NOT YET RATED |
| AFTERBURN DURATION | NOT YET RATED |
Ed Currie is well know around the Chilli-verse as a bit of a mad scientist when it comes to cultivating superhot chillies and rightly so. His as yet unconfirmed hottest pepper in the world, Pepper X is said to clock in at a mind blowing 3.18 million on the Scoville scale. Before the Frankenpepper that is temporarily known as Pepper X was conceived, The Carolina Reaper was the reigning, defending, undisputed, undefeated heavyweight hottest pepper in the world. The ‘Reaper’ (originally named HP22B) is a hybrid between a Pakistani Naga Viper pepper and a La Soufrière from the island of St. Vincent, which gave birth to a bright red, gnarled and pointy tailed little monster.
How hot is the Carolina Reaper?
Testing of The Carolina Reaper puts the average rating on the Scoville scale at around 1.5-1.6 million Scovilles but the hottest Reaper clocked in at 2.2 million Scovilles. The pepper itself has a sweet citrus flavour which is quite pleasant until the heat kicks in. The burn itself lasts for about 10 minutes before subsiding to manageable levels. In April 2018, a 34 year old man was hospitalised with Thunderclap headaches after taking on a Carolina Reaper. It’s thought that the headaches were a stress response from eating the pepper rather than an effect of the pepper itself so if you train and work yourself up to superhot peppers then you should be alright…probably.
What can I use this chilli for?
Honesty? not much unless you are feeling very brave. It’s not a pepper that you would use in your everyday cooking at least. You’re probably best saving it for special occasions when you really want to punish..erm…treat your friends to something with a bit of kick.
If you are adamant that you want to create something edible with this little red monster then we have a couple of suggestions.
This Strawberry Hot Sauce from Pepperhead.com takes the citrus and heat from the Carolina Reaper and pairs it with the sweetness of fresh strawberries but don’t be fooled into thinking that this is anything other than mind blowingly hot!
I’m the guy behind The Chilli Expert. I’m always learning new things about growing, cooking and eating Chillies which I hope I can share with you all.
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