Carolina Reaper peppers are more spicy than pepper spray

The world's hottest spicy chilli is the US Carolina Reaper chili pepper, which has the same "offensive" effect as the police's pepper spray.

According to Guinness World Records, Ed Currie's Carolina Reaper peppers are by far the most spicy on Earth.

On the Scoville scale, Carolina Reaper chili peppers have an average spicy level of 1,569,300 units, including some spicy fruits up to 2.2 million. Meanwhile, the spiciness of a dedicated tear gas gun is 2 million Scoville units.

Picture 1 of Carolina Reaper peppers are more spicy than pepper spray
Carolina Reaper peppers are currently the most spicy variety on Earth.(Photo: theatlantic.com)

Carolina Reaper's "dangerous" level was studied by a group of students at Winthrop University.

Cliff Calloway, a professor at Winthrop University and a research instructor, said the determination of chili peppers is based on an analysis of a chemical compound called capsaicinoids found in this natural spice. The higher the concentration of this compound, the stronger the chilliness of chili.

The scientists calculated the teariness by separating the capsaicinoids compound from the chili, then using chromatography to test the exact mass of the compound. The result will then be converted to Scoville ladders based on an available formula.

Ed Currie is the head of the PuckerButt Pepper company, spending most of his life searching and breeding the world's most spicy peppers.

The record of Currie's new world has caused a big stir in farmers who grow peppers, creating a new push into the fight to create the world's most spicy peppers. Hot peppers are a highly consumed commodity in the US.

According to statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture of the country, in less than 5 years, the amount of pepper consumed by Americans has increased by 8%.