The Trinidad scorpion pepper (full name Trinidad scorpion 'Butch T' pepper, which derives from the Trinidad moruga scorpion) was named the hottest pepper on Earth by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2011 and retained that spot for a full 3 years ... but now, the famous book of records features a new extremely hot pepper: the Carolina Reaper.
The way to measure spiciness is the Scoville scale, which is reported in Scoville heat units (SHU). The scale was named after its creator, American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville, who created it in 1912. The scale is an empirical measurement that depends on the capsaicin sensitivity of testers; however, capsaicin concentration can very roughly be estimated as ~18 µg/gram/SHU.
The scorpion pepper was first measured at 1,463,700 Scoville heat units, placing it as the hottest pepper in the world at the time. To gain some perspective, it can be noted that jalapenos can rate anywhere between 3,500 and 8,000 Scoville heat units, while habanero chilies (which are considerably hotter, even for Mexicans) have a ranking between 100,000-350,000 Scoville heat units. So we're talking over a million Scoville heat units of difference ... and that's only for the scorpion pepper. The new hottest pepper, the Carolina reaper, was found to have 2,200,000 Scoville heat units at its highest peak.
Either one of these, either the scorpion pepper or the Carolina reaper, will have regular users crying and sweating; no matter how much they may usually enjoy spice. The scorpion pepper takes its unofficial name from the fact that the shape of its pointy end resembles a scorpion's tale - a very appropriate metaphor for such a hot pepper. On the other hand, the Carolina reaper takes its name from where it's grown: the PuckerButt Pepper Company in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
For fans of spice (and perhaps, given the cases, actual sufferers of this food) it's easy to find seeds for both the scorpion pepper and the Carolina reaper, as the companies that have engineered them sell their peppers online.
