About the pepper
The Carolina Reaper was bred by Ed Currie of the PuckerButt Pepper Company in Rock Hill, South Carolina, from a cross between a Red Habanero and a Bhut Jolokia. Guinness certified it as the world’s hottest chili pepper in 2013 at an average of 1.57 million SHU with individual pods measured above 2.2 million. As of this writing, Pepper X — also bred by Currie — has overtaken it, but the Reaper remains the most recognizable "hottest pepper" name in the world.
What makes the Reaper interesting beyond the heat is its flavor. It leads with a genuinely sweet, fruity front note — often described as tropical fruit or stone fruit — before the heat arrives with its trademark scorpion tail. That front-end sweetness is why the Reaper pairs so well with peaches, mango, and other ripe summer fruit in sauce work.
The heat is not subtle. Reapers are a chef’s pepper first and a novelty pepper second — they belong in sauces, powders, and rubs where the pepper is blended with sweetness and acid, not eaten raw. Handled with respect, a Reaper sauce brings serious depth to pulled pork, wings, BBQ, and even ice cream.
Also known as
HP22B, Reaper
