Carolina Reaper facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Carolina Reaper |
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| Species | Capsicum chinense |
| Hybrid parentage | Ghost Pepper x Habanero |
| Breeder | Ed Currie |
| Origin | Fort Mill, South Carolina, US |
| Heat |  Exceptionally hot |
| Scoville scale | 1,569,300 on average SHU |
The Carolina Reaper is a very special type of Capsicum chinense plant. It was created by a plant breeder named Ed Currie in South Carolina, USA. This chili pepper is bright red and has a bumpy, wrinkled skin with a small, pointed tail. In 2017, Guinness World Records officially announced that the Carolina Reaper was the hottest chili pepper in the entire world! It took the top spot from the Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T".
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What Makes the Carolina Reaper So Hot?
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The amazing heat you feel when you eat a Carolina Reaper comes from natural chemicals called capsaicinoids. The main one is capsaicin. These chemicals are what make chili peppers spicy. The more capsaicinoids a pepper has, the hotter it is! We measure this heat using something called the Scoville scale.
"Smokin" Ed Currie, who owns the PuckerButt Pepper Company, grew the Carolina Reaper in a greenhouse in Rock Hill. On August 11, 2017, Guinness World Records confirmed it was the world's hottest chili. Tests done by Winthrop University showed its official heat level was 1,641,183 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). This number is an average, but some individual peppers were even hotter, reaching up to 2.2 million SHU!
The Carolina Reaper was made by crossing two other very hot peppers: a La Soufriere pepper from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and a Naga Viper pepper from Pakistan. It's called 'Reaper' because its tail looks a bit like the scythe (a tool) that the Grim Reaper carries. People say it has a fruity taste at first, but then it quickly turns into a feeling like "molten lava" in your mouth!
In 2017, other peppers were claimed to be hotter. For example, the Dragon's Breath pepper was reported to be 2.4 million SHUs. Later that year, Ed Currie himself said he had a new pepper called Pepper X that was even hotter, with 3.18 million SHUs!
Growing Your Own Carolina Reaper Peppers
Growing Carolina Reaper peppers can be a fun project. A UK plant expert named James Wong said they are "a good all-rounder to try at home." These peppers need warm temperatures, at least 18 to 20 degrees Celsius (64 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit).
It's a good idea to grow them in pots that are about 30 to 40 centimeters (12 to 16 inches) wide. This helps to control their growth and makes them produce fruit sooner. When a Carolina Reaper pepper is fully grown and ripe, two of them can fit in the palm of your hand.
Images for kids
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Carolina Reaper pepper pods, showing their bumpy texture and pointed tail.
See also
In Spanish: Carolina Reaper para niños
