Pepper X marks the spot as South Carolina pepper expert scorches his own Guinness Book heat record

By JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press

FORT MILL, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina hot pepper expert who set a world record for the hottest pepper a decade ago is at it again. Ed Currie has officially broken the record with Pepper X, a crossbreed of the Carolina Reaper, which was Currie’s old record holder. Pepper X is hotter than pepper and bear sprays, coming in at 2.69 million Scoville units, the scientific measurement for a pepper’s hotness. A regular jalapeno registers around 5,000 units and a habanero, the record-holder about 25 years, ago usually tops 100,000. The Guinness Book of World Records lists the Carolina Reaper at 1.64 million units. Currie said he ate a Pepper X and felt the heat for three-and-a-half hours.