The summer brings a huge range of chili peppers with multiple colors and sizes. To your surprise every pepper type has its own unique taste, flavor, and heat.
Some of them are mild and sweet like bell peppers. Some of them are moderately hot like serrano and jalapeno peppers. That's great for cooking and flavoring up recipes. Trust me, few of them are flaming hot that could potentially harm us with its spiciness.
But the real complication is, most of the chili peppers look alike, however they extremely differ in their heat level. For instance, habanero pepper(350,000 SHU) looks similar to super hot ghost peppers(1 million SHU). Here, though they have similar shape, but the heat varies to a huge extent right?
Hence, always have a general rule of thumb to proceed with caution when handling unknown types of peppers.
This post is an effort to make you aware of the hottest pepper in the world.
The list of top hottest peppers in the world keep changing because of newly discovered hot chili peppers.
This is the updated top 12 list for 2022 hottest pepper in the world.
Apollo Pepper
If you are looking for the hottest chili pepper that can make you sweat and packed with amazing flavors, this Apollo pepper has everything in them.
This Apollo pepper is exactly what you need to spice up your life-but proceed with caution. Because this is an extremely hot chili pepper that can instantly trigger a burning sensation to the entire mouth and throat and potentially it may be harder to breath for a while.
This is an extremely hot chili pepper variety, introduced in the year 2021. And belongs to the capsicum Chinense family developed by the Pucker butt pepper company by combining and the extremely chili pepper varieties like pepper X and Carolina reaper.
The fun fact is that both pepper X and Carolina reaper are from the same company.
The creator mentions is pepper have more than 3 million SHU in Scoville scale. And hence, expected to be hotter than the Pepper X. This pepper is waiting for the world's approval to Crown as the world’s hottest chili pepper.
Pepper X
The creator of the world’s hottest chili pepper ‘Carolina reaper’(holds Guinness world records of 2017 for its highest heat level) developed this chili pepper.
Its creator Ed Currie described its heat level as 3,180,000 SHU in Scoville scale.
He compares that this hottest chili pepper is two times of the Carolina reaper’s heat profile. And hundred times hotter than the jalapeños.
As of May 2022, these Pepper X chili peppers are still not available as a whole fresh pepper in the open consumer market. However, it is available as Pepper X hot sauces that are highly popular among spice lovers.
Dragon's Breath
This is a hybrid chili pepper between varieties-Boot jolaka and Trinidad scorpion pepper(Both these chili peppers have extreme heat and fiery flavors).
Dragon breath chili pepper is a product of the United Kingdom. And named after its intense heat that symbolizes the mythological dragon's fire breath.
It is measured as 2,480,000 SHU on the Scoville scale. And it is 800 times hotter than jalapeño pepper.
Using them for culinary purposes in a normal kitchen is not advisable as it may lead to fatal incidents. However you may use this chili pepper in a controlled version-the dragon's breath hot sauce. You may find it online on Amazon.
Chocolate 7-pot
Chocolate 7-pot is another extremely hot chili pepper. It is reported as nearly 1,800,000 SHU in Scoville scale, making it quite spicy. And it's 500 times hotter than jalapeño and two times hotter than the habanero peppers.
It looks similar to habanero peppers and has a chocolate brown color. And used to make hot sauce and stew recipes.
How does it got the name '7 pot'? Because, a single pepper can provide the spice element for seven pots of stew.
These peppers are cultivated in many parts of the world. And used for both culinary and medicinal purposes.
These have a fruity flavor and packed with intense heat.
Carolina Reaper
This Carolina reaper belongs to the capsicum Chinense family. And created by Ed curry, a well renowned breeder from North Carolina. And holds the title as the ‘world’s hottest chili pepper’ from the Guinness book of records in the year 2017.
And still(as of May 2022) possesses this title.
And this pepper is a crossbreed between the Saint Vincent and Nagao viper pepper from Pakistan.
It’s smaller in size measuring about 1 inch wider and 1 to 1.5 inch in lengthwise. And has a wrinkled skin with clustered seeds.
It has a long, sharp, pointed tail. And this chili pepper named after its resemblance toward the weapon-reaper.
It has a fruity flavor and with real heat. And reported to have 2.2 million SHU in Scoville scale.
Trinidad Scorpion Butch T- Butch
Trinidad scorpion Birch T pepper belongs to the capsicum Chinense family. It has a glossy, wrinkled skin, about 1.5-2 inches lengthwise and 1 inch towards its shoulder.
On top of this, it has a special feature-a sting like tail. Since its tail looks similar to a scorpion’s-it inherited its name.
On top of it, Guinness world records declared this hot chili pepper as world’s hottest chili pepper in the year 2011. And measuring 1.5 million SHU in the Scoville scale.
This pepper is widely used in making hot sauces and other specialty dishes. Always proceed with caution and take necessary precautions when handling this pepper.
Komodo Dragon
These hot chili peppers are originally from the island of Komodo in Indonesia. This chili pepper is packed with a fiery heat. And with an average heat level of 1.4 million Scoville units.
To make a comparison, Komodo chili pepper’s heat is about 200 times hotter than a jalapeño pepper, and about 50 times hotter than a habanero pepper.
Komodo dragon chili peppers are authentically used to make hot sauces.
Naga Viper
The Naga Viper is another hot chili pepper variety created in the United Kingdom. Its average Scoville scale unit is measuring at 1.3 million units.
In 2011, it was officially declared as the world's hottest pepper by the Guinness World Records.
The Naga Viper is a hybrid of three popular hot chili peppers: the Bhut Jolokia, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, and the Red Ghost Chili.
The matured Naga viper has a long, curved shape body with bright red color.
Dorset Naga
Another popular hot chili pepper is the Dorset Naga, first introduced in the United Kingdom. It was created by Joy and Michael Michaud, who crossbred the ghost pepper with the Bhut Jolokia.
This pepper had a Scoville Scale rating of 1,201,000 units, making it one of the hottest peppers in the world. It is often used in hot sauces and curries, and its unique flavor has made it a favorite among chefs and home cooks.
Trinidad Moruga scorpion
The Trinidad Moruga scorpion is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, this chili pepper measures up to 1,200,000 Scoville heat units on the Scoville scale (a measure of chili pepper heat).
In 2012, the Guinness World Records named the Trinidad Moruga scorpion as the world's hottest chili pepper.
Ghost pepper - landrace India 1,001,000 2007
Ghost pepper is one of the top 10 hottest peppers in the world. And certified as the hottest chili pepper in 2007 by Guinness world records. It's about 400 times hotter than the standard jalapeno pepper.
These hot and fiery ghost peppers rate more than 1,00,000 heat units in the Scoville scale where the green bell pepper rate is 0 heat units. And jalapeno pepper ranges between 3000-7000 Scoville heat units.
Naga Morich
The Naga Morich is native to both India and Bangladesh with a Scoville rating of 1 million units. It is used in making traditional dishes of both the countries. The popular recipes are hot sauces, spice blends, and especially in making curries.
The peppers are usually harvested when they are fully ripe, at which point they are red or orange in color. The Naga Morich has a distinct flavor that is both sweet and spicy, with hints of tropical fruit.
Although it is primarily grown in India and Bangladesh, the Naga Morich is also grown in other tropical climate regions.
Red Savina
The Red Savina is a popular chili pepper in Mexico and in Tex-Mex cuisines. And they are moderately hot peppers belonging to the Capsiam annum family.
And have a spicy heat profile that is similar to habanero peppers. These are also versatile and taste excellent when added to spice up any dishes like salsa, hot sauces, or enchiladas.
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