Pepper X is a

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

of ''

Capsicum ''Capsicum'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the Solanum, nightshade family Solanaceae, native to Americas, the Americas, cultivated worldwide for their chili pepper or bell pepper fruit. Etymology and names The generic name may come f ...

chili pepper Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...

bred by

Ed Currie "Smokin" Ed Currie is an American chili pepper breeder, who is the founder and president of the PuckerButt Pepper Company. He is best known for breeding the hottest chili pepper in the world, the Carolina Reaper, as recognized by Guinness World Re ...

, creator of the

Carolina Reaper The Carolina Reaper is a cultivar of the ''Capsicum chinense'' plant. Developed by American breeder Ed Currie, the pepper is red and gnarled, with a bumpy texture and small pointed tail. In 2017, ''Guinness World Records'' declared it the hottes ...

. Pepper X resulted from several cross breedings that produced an exceptionally high content of

capsaicin Capsaicin (8-methyl-''N''-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) ( or ) is an active component of chili peppers, which are plants belonging to the genus ''Capsicum''. It is a chemical irritant for mammals, including humans, and produces a sensation of burning ...

in the

locule A locule (plural locules) or loculus (plural loculi) (meaning "little place" in Latin) is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism (animal, plant, or fungus). In angiosperms (flowering plants), the term ''locule'' usu ...

s of the pepper. The exceptional pungency of the chili was developed over 10 years of cultivation. First We Feast 19 September 2017 According to Currie, he started developing Pepper X as he found his favorite chili peppers too mild and wanted to have a pepper that had more heat while retaining the flavor. First We Feast 19 September 2017 Currie asserted that it is "two times as hot as the Carolina Reaper", which would make it the hottest pepper in the world with a

Scoville scale The Scoville scale is a measurement of the pungency (spiciness or "heat") of chili peppers, as recorded in Scoville heat units (SHU), based on the concentration of capsaicinoids, among which capsaicin is the predominant component. The scale i ...

of 3.18 million units, but this remains unconfirmed by ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' as of 2022.

References

{{Capsicum cultivars Chili peppers Capsicum cultivars