Peppers ordered by Scoville Heat Units | title max (2023)

What are the hottest peppers in the world and which are the mildest? We tested 110 different types of peppers to find the hottest on the Scoville hotness scale. While some peppers are considered sweet with a Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) of 0, others have reached over 2 million on the Scoville Hotness Scale and are considered the hottest peppers in the world. This scale of peppers has become a challenge in recent years as growers try to create the next hottest pepper and claim the world champion title. With Scoville units numbering in the millions, our list of peppers is not for the faint of heart! What is the hottest pepper on this list that you have tried?

How are Scoville units measured?

The Scoville scale is a measure of the heat of chili peppers and other spicy foods. The concentration of capsaicin, the chemical responsible for making foods spicy, is measured and recorded in Scoville Heat Units (SHU). The Scoville Heat Scale was developed by Wilbur Scoville, an American pharmacist. In 1912 he developed a method calledScoville organoleptic test. This method would extract the capsaicin oil from a dried pepper, then dilute it with sugar water until a panel of professional tasters could no longer determine the pungency. The amount of dilution needed to get to this point would determine the Scoville units assigned to each pepper.

The Scoville organoleptic test was imprecise due to human subjectivity, so this spicy scale began to be measured in the 1980s.high performance liquid chromatography. This measures the concentration of capsaicinoids and the results are converted to Scoville heat units by multiplying the parts per million by 16.

The Scoville Heat Classification of 20 Different Types of Peppers

1. Pepper X: Scoville rating of 3,180,000
2. Carolina Reaper: Scoville rating of 1,400,000-2,200,000
3. Ghost Pepper: Scoville rating of 800,000-1,041,427
4. Habanero: Scoville rating of 100,000-350,000
5. Scotch Bonnet: Scoville rating of 100,000-350,000
6. Charleston Hot: Scoville rating of 70,000-100,000
7. Thai Pepper: Scoville rating of 50,000-100,000
8. Tabasco Pepper: Scoville Rating of 30,000-50,000
9. Cayenne Pepper: Scoville rating of 30,000-50,000
10. Chile Serrano: Scoville score of 10,000-23,000
11. Sport Pepper: Scoville rating of 10,000-23,000
12. Jalapeño: Scoville rating of 2,500-8,000
13. Chipotle Pepper: Scoville rating of 2,500-8,000
14. Cherry Bomb: Scoville rating of 2500-5000
15. Poblano: Scoville score of 1,000-2,000
16. Ancho Pepper: Scoville rating of 1,000-1,500
17. Peppadew: Scoville rating of 1,100-1,200
18. Pepperoncini: Scoville rating of 100-500
19. Banana Pepper: Scoville score from 0-500
20. Sweet Peppers: Scoville rating of 0

What is the hottest pepper in the world?

The world's certified hottest pepper is the Carolina Reaper with 2,200,000 Scoville units. Recognition in the Guinness Book of RecordsCarolina Reaper de Smokin' Edas the world's hottest chili in 2018. It surpassed its own record set in 2013 by 71,000 SHU to regain its title as the world's hottest chili. To put that amount of heat into perspective, the Carolina Reaper chili is 200 times hotter than a jalapeno.

While the Carolina Reaper is currently considered the hottest pepper in the world, it has some serious competition on the pepper scale.Pfeffer X, also bred by Smokin' Ed Currie, has taken 10 years to develop, but is said to be much more attractive than the Carolina Reaper. While awaiting confirmation from the Guinness World Records Committee, Pepper X Scoville units are said to have topped the hotness scale by 3,180,000; that's almost a million Scoville units hotter than the Carolina Reaper!

Dragon's Breath pepper, rumored to have 2,480,000 SHU on the Scoville heat scale, has never been officially tested and an application to Guinness World Records is awaiting confirmation. This pepper is not intended for commercial consumption and was insteaddeveloped to be used as a natural anestheticFor people with allergies to typical anesthetics used in medical procedures.

The 10 hottest peppers in the world

1. Pepper X: Scoville rating of 3,180,000
2. Dragon's Breath Pepper: Scoville rating of 2,480,000
3. Carolina Reaper: Scoville rating of 1,400,000-2,200,000
4. Komodo Dragon Pepper: Scoville rating of 1,400,000-2,200,000
5. Trinidad Moruga Scorpion: Scoville rating of 1,200,000-2,000,000
6. Trinidad Scorpion Chocolate: Scoville rating of 1,200,000-2,000,000
7. 7 Pot Douglash: Scoville rating of 923,889-1,853,986
8. 7 Pot Brown: Scoville rating of 800,000-1,853,396
9. Dorset Naga: Scoville-Rating de 544.000-1.598.227
10. Naga Morich: Scoville-Rating de 1.000.000-1.500.000

Can the hottest pepper kill you?

Yes, some of the hottest peppers on this table could kill you, but you'd have to eat a large amount at one time for that to happen.Studies have foundthat 3 pounds of dried and powdered capsaicin-rich peppers, such as Ghost Pepper or Carolina Reaper, consumed by a 150-pound person in a short period of time would be enough to kill them.

Capsaicin is a neurotoxin, and large amounts can cause breathing difficulties, seizures, heart attacks, and death if ingested in sufficient amounts. While eating just one pepper over a million Scoville units won't kill you, it can be uncomfortable for hours or days as your body tries to digest the peppers. For this reason, many recommend just spicing your food with these super hot peppers instead of eating them whole.

What is the sweetest pepper in the world?

The sweetest pepper in the world is the sweet bell pepper with a SHU of 0. Bell peppers are a type of bell pepper, but they are the only bell pepper that does not produce the hot chemical capsaicin found in most bell peppers.

Peppers can be found ina range of colorsdepending on how early in their growth cycle they were picked. The green pepper is the least ripe and therefore the most bitter, the orange and yellow are the sweetest, and the red is the sweetest pepper as it is fully ripe when picked. The Purple Beauty pepper, the purple version of the common sweet pepper, ranks next to it on the list of the sweetest peppers in the world, also with a SHU of 0.

The 10 sweetest peppers in the world

1. Sweet Peppers: Scoville rating of 0
2. Purple Beauty Pepper: Scoville Rating of 0
3. Gypsy Pepper: Scoville rating of 0
4. Italian Peppers: Scoville rating of 1-100
5. Melrose Pepper: Scoville score of 1-100
6. Tangerine Dream Pepper: Scoville score of 0-100
7. Shishito Pepper: Scoville rating of 50-200
8. Carmen Italian Sweet Pepper: Scoville Score from 0-500
9. Banana Pepper: Scoville score from 0-500
10. Allspice: Scoville rating of 100-500