You mightвЂ™ve seen the mega-viral clip from YouTuber Lizzy Wurst of her and a friend trying to stomach Carolina Reapers. WhatвЂ™s new is that they are now hotter than ever before, and along with the dramatic increase in record-breaking peppers is a rise in people who eat them in a way thatвЂ™s almost an extreme sport.ДЇrom pepper-eating contests and extreme menu items that require liability waivers to videos on social media of people eating the Carolina Reaper, Bhut jolokia (ghost pepper), and Samyang 'fire noodles' - itвЂ™s not hard to find people rising to a spicy challenge that often ends in pain and tears. The heat-causing capsicums have become a dietary staple in cultures all over the world, valued for their flavor and ability to prevent food spoilage in hot climates. The potent plants - which belong to the capsicum genus in the nightshade family - have been around for thousands of years, originating in Central America and spreading to other continents through trade and globalization. In other words, the Carolina Reaper is nearly off-the-charts spicy - or as Currie said, вЂњstupid hot.вЂќ It won the Guinness World Record for the world's hottest chili pepper in 2013, dethroning the вЂњTrinidad Scorpion Butch TвЂќ pepper, and has retained the title ever since - although Currie said he's already bred another pepper that's nearly twice as hot, called вЂњ Pepper X.вЂќ ThatвЂ™s about 600 times hotter than a jalapeГ±o pepper at 2,500вЂ“8,000 SHU and about 8 times hotter than a habanero, which ranges between 200,000вЂ“350,000 SHU. вЂњHis initial measurement was the hottest heвЂ™d ever seen,вЂќ Currie said.ДЄccording to Currie, the Carolina Reaper ranges between 1.5 million and 2 million SHUs, depending on the pepper and the growing season. It was 2005 when he teamed up with chemistry professor Cliff Calloway and his team of graduate students at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. After a few successful growing seasons, Currie decided to find out where the pepper ranked on the Scoville scale, which uses Scoville heat units (SHU) to measure capsaicin. вЂњI knew it was hot because when we gave them out to everyone, they started vomiting,вЂќ Currie said. So when Currie, founder of the PuckerButt Pepper Company in Fort Mill, South Carolina, hybridized plants using nine chili peppers from Asia and one from the Caribbean, he also created something spicier than anything heвЂ™d ever tasted: the now world-famous вЂњCarolina Reaper.вЂќ

The most common capsaicinoid is capsaicin, which gives the pepper its fiery edge. вЂњI wanted more of that good stuff,' Currie told BuzzFeed News. In fact, he was trying to raise the levels of capsaicinoids, compounds found in peppers, because he believes they have medicinal properties and can help protect against heart disease and cancer. Ed Currie wasn't looking to make the world's hottest pepper when he began crossbreeding chilies from around the globe in 2003.

Superhot peppers