Ok, now it won’t let me edit that I’ve added the video. Oh well.
The man who bred it actually tried one raw, and he described what it was like on All Things Considered last night:
DETROW: Yeah. Tell us about your experience of eating this thing raw. I understand it was not the most pleasant moment of your life.
CURRIE: When I put that pepper in my mouth, immediately the heat hit me, and it was like a nuclear bomb going off in my stomach. And just the heat rose from the pit of my stomach, all the way through to the tippy-top of my head. And that lasted for, you know, a good two, three hours.
DETROW: Three hours?
CURRIE: Yeah. And those cramps are unbelievable. And I laid on a marble slab in the rain, groaning in pain for over an hour. But being the person that I am, when everything was over and we all decided to go out to eat, we ate hot peppers again at dinner.
Not sure what the guy is saying about Guiness. Guiness doesn’t test the pepper. It was tested by the chemistry department of Winthrop University.
The same university that verified the Carolina Reaper. Pepper X isn’t new. It’s been around for 10 years. It’s been put in sauces for several years. The only difference is the heat has now been scientifically verified.
Ah, thank you. I should have done more research before fooling about with that video, it seems.
Would I “eat one”? No. Would I try a small piece of one? Sure, why not. I’d likely regret it, but it would be an experience.
So would hang-gliding through a Class 5 hurricane while being eaten by rabid badgers.
I’m so over “character building” experiences.
You can take a deep dive into the controversy. There is a lot of drama over peppers. It mostly seems like jealousy to me.
There is a lot of theft in the community. Ed Curry has had peppers stolen from his farm. Others accuse him of lying or being too sneaky. It seems to me he is being prudent and protecting his product.
Some think he stole the peppers he used to make his hybrid (specifically Carolina Reaper). It also looks like the guy he supposedly stole from is fine with his product being used.
Guiness is accused of being bought off. But I’m not seeing anything credible about something that would be hotter that Guiness turned down. Anyone can submit a claim.
The lab that verified the result works close with the company since they are in the same state. Sure it would be nice if another lab could also do it but there is no evidence of shenanigans.
I’m sure there is more. The pepper world is worse than a soap opera.
Thanks for all of the information! There are so many communities you never think about unless you’re a member or you stumble upon one on accident.
I just noticed that the guy who bred it has the surname Curry.
I probably would try a curry made with a tiny bit of Pepper X.
ETA: Well he spells it “Currie” (@Loach misspelled it above), but close enough.
Hard pass. I can tolerate a couple of slices of pickled jalapeños in my salsa or burrito. Tolerate, not enjoy. Nothing hotter than that, not a habanero, or Scotch bonnet, or scorpion pepper, certainly not a ghost or a Reaper, is coming anywhere near my mucous membranes.
YouTube is full of videos of chile-eating contests in the southwest of England. And the ones I’ve seen have their fair share of women, too. So it’s definitely not just an American thing, or a boy thing either.
Isn’t that what a chipotle pepper is? A ripe jalapeño?
A chipotle is, additionally, smoked and dried.
I love hot peppers and hot sauces. But not in a masochistic way. I’ll eat raw jalapeño slices. I love those roasted Thai peppers that the restaurant will mix in with the Pad Thai and Drunken Noodle. But I’m not going to eat a Ghost Pepper or Reaper or “X” whole and then lay on a marble slab, praying for death.
A coworker brought me in some Carolina Reapers that he grew. I’ll pare off maybe 1/4 of a pepper, dice it up, and add it to chili or an omelet or tuna salad. Great flavor and great kick.
I’ve got 8-9 hot sauces in my cabinet–the hottest being Dave’s Insanity. Not sure what pepper variety forms the base, but 3 drops in whatever I’m cooking or mixing up is enough. Again, you get heat and flavor without ending up in the hospital.
A few years ago, when ghost peppers were all the rage, I tried some (of course). They are plenty hot, but have a flavor identity that is quite different from scotch bonnets or reapers or other hot peppers. I mean, it’s a completely different flavor profile. It’s not…bad…just different. I prefer other hot peppers.
So, would I try “Pepper x”? Sure! But diced up in a dish where I got the heat/flavor and was able to enjoy it.
I don’t understand his argument here. A flood of fake seeds is inevitable. The difference is, if the creator isn’t sharing them, then you know for sure that any seeds you buy are fake (or stolen, or somehow otherwise illegitimate). That’s a better situation than one where some seeds may or may not be real.
Can’t you get seeds by buying one of the peppers?
They’re probably unripe and won’t ripen to seed maturity after being harvested.
Me, too. No way I’d eat a whole one. I love hot foods, but beyond a certain level of heat, I find that the flavor is drowned out for me. It’s just scaldingly hot sludge.
But I wouldn’t be able to resist trying a tiny crumb or sliver, just to see.
You can, but if they are a hybrid, you might not get the results you want on that next generation.
Bathroom visits after handling ordinary hot peppers without having thoroughly washed and scrubbed one’s hands are ill-advised. The consequences could be vastly worse if Pepper X or other ultra-hot peppers are handled.
I like spicy food and growing peppers. There’s zero culinary appeal in using something suited only to capsaicin harvesting for medical/research use, preparing insecticides or satisfying macho urges.
Really? I find them to have the signature Capsicum chinense profile of habaneros, fataliis, Scotch bonnets, scorpions, etc. They all have their own spin on that flavor, but they’re all similar to me, not like, say, the difference between a C. annum and a C. chinense or C. baccatum.
I’m not sure if he’s selling the raw peppers. He has a deal with a company to use it in a hot sauce and also makes his own hot sauce with it.