Where is Pepper X from? First We Feast's Sean Evans celebrates as recent creation becomes Guinness World Records holder for new hottest pepper

Pepper X recently dethroned the Carolina Reaper and became the Guinness World Record holder for the hottest chili pepper in the world. The chili achieved this feat with its incredible average rating of 2,693,000 Scoville Heat Units, as calculated by South Carolina's Winthrop University. Pepper X was created by the same person behind the Carolina Reaper, Puckerbutt Pepper Company founder, Ed Currie.

Currie was joined by Heatonist founder, Noah Chaimberg, and Sean Evans of First We Feast, in an October 16 episode of Hot Ones, as they celebrated his achievement. In the episode, Ed explained the process of creating the Pepper X, which all three of them, then tried. The chili pepper was created in a greenhouse in South Carolina's Fort Mill, over a 10-year cultivation and cross-breeding period.

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Pepper X has 2,693,000 Scoville Heat Units

On October 16, Heatonist shared a press release confirming that Ed Currie's Pepper X had become the Guinness World Record holder for the hottest chili pepper in the world. The pepper attained an astonishing 2,693,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) on average, a million more than the previous record holder, another Ed Currie concoction, the Carolina Reaper, which had an average SHU of 1,641,183.

The Scoville Heat Unit is used to measure the amount of heat in chili peppers. The use of the Scoville Scale helps determine the capsaicin concentration within a pepper, which helps ascertain its heat. This is determined by the volume of water required to take the heat off a pepper completely. The Scoville Heat Unit also does not accumulate. Each time a pepper is consumed, its measurement remains separate.

Currie created the elusive chili pepper in his Fort Mill greenhouse and spent 10 years perfecting it. Pepper X pods can't be bought as it is a proprietary product. However, it is used in select sauces including The Hot Ones: The Last Dab Xperience, which is made from over 91% Pepper X and is available to purchase on the Heatonist website for $22. It was made in partnership between Hot Ones, Heatonist, and Ed.

The October 16 episode of Hot Ones was a celebration of Ed Currie's achievement. During the show, Ed revealed that he looked for minor Capsinoids within peppers and for flavor, as he mentioned that even if the pepper is extremely hot, there's no point to it if it "tastes like cr*p." He also revealed that people have tried to steal the pepper over the 10 years that he spent growing it.

The Hot Ones The Last Dab Xperience (Image via Heatonist)

As part of the event, Ed Currie was presented with a Guinness World Records plaque from adjudicator Andy Glass, who stated that the pepper's SHU was independently verified. According to Ed, this was a validation of all the time and effort he and his team had put in to create the pepper. An emotional Ed, who had goosebumps while receiving the plaque, said:

"This is the culmination of a lot of work by a lot of people. People said it couldn't be done, they called us liars, and we proved to them that Pepper X is actually the hottest pepper in the world, officially from Guinness."

For the final segment of the celebratory episode, host Sean Evans welcomed Danish chili entrepreneur, Claus "Chili Klaus" Pilgaard to taste the elusive pepper, along with himself, Ed, and Noah. Just like the end of a regular Hot Ones episode, everyone seemed to be mortified by the shocking heat, especially Klaus, who became the first person apart from Ed to eat a full Pepper X and yelled, "I'm in heat".