The King of Heat: All about Carolina Reaper

The Carolina Reaper, originally named the HP22B, is a cultivar of Capsicum chinense bred by Smokin´ Ed Currie of the Puckerbutt Pepper Company in South Carolina. The whole pepper is typically around 1-1.5 inches in diameter, bulbous, and with rugged skin. It has a very pointy, sharp tail that inspired its name of Reaper.  Since 2013, it holds the Guinness World record for the hottest pepper in the world.

How hot is it and how does it taste?

The Carolina Reaper was rated an average of 1,640,000 SHU on the Scoville Scale, making it an extremely hot pepper. With its hottest specimens coming in at over 2.2 million Scoville Units at its peak if you’re looking for some serious heat this will certainly do the trick.  With a pepper this hot, it might have you wondering, what sort of flavor does it have?

Believe it or not, despite the incredible heat, Carolina Reaper was bred to be sweet, which it is. This makes it one of the most flavorful super-hot peppers. It is incredibly aromatic, and the high amount of heat just enhances other flavors in your clients’ meals (once diluted, of course). The aromas of this pepper are quite fruity. You can expect a tropical fruit flavor with floral hints. Some flavor notes to expect from this pepper include red apple and peach. This super-hot pepper is truly sweet at its core. With its huge hit, you can truly smell the capsaicin as a metallic, mineral aroma.

How should I eat a Carolina Reaper?

Again, this spicy pepper holds the record for the hottest pepper in the world so it’s probably a better idea to leave the preparation to us and enjoy this hot pepper in its diluted form.

However, we did want to share some recipes to enjoy the Carolina Reaper with you:

-       Carolina Reaper Salsa: if you like your salsa extra hot—this is the salsa for you! Perfect for an appetizer or topping for your favorite meal! Use whole brined Carolina for this recipe, or let us so the slicing or dicing.

-       Sweet & Spicy Carolina Reaper Wings: these wings aren’t messing around, but if you can handle the heat, nothing can beat these hot wings.  

Our favorite way to enjoy Carolina, however, is in a fermented hot sauce. The fermentation process we go through really turns the flavor up to 11. It allows the sweet aromas of the pepper to shine through and complement the complex fermentation flavors.

This pepper is also wonderful dried. Since it´s so hot, a little really goes a long way. It can be used to adjust heat in other preparations and include the great sweetness and fragrance this pepper has into any preparation.

In short, when consuming a hot pepper like the Carolina Reaper, it is best to add it to dishes and preparations rather than consuming the entire pepper which, despite its great taste, will leave your mouth burning and eyes watering for a short time. A more enjoyable experience would be to consume this hot pepper in its diluted form in a variety of dishes.

Exactly how hot is the Carolina Reaper?

Remember the sliced jalapeño you had last night with your nachos? Well, Carolina is 400 times as hot! And that habanero that burned your mouth in the salsa last time you went for tacos? Multiply that heat around 6 times and you´ll get Carolina levels.

Even if the famous Ghost pepper, that is viral online due to its heat, pales against the Carolina Reaper. A Ghost pepper comes in at around 1,040,000 SHU on the Scoville Scale, while the average Carolina Reaper is 1,640,000 SHU. In fact, it was the Ghost pepper that was dethroned as the world’s hottest pepper by the Carolina Reaper in 2013.

After hearing about this amount of heat, you might be asking: Could eating Carolina Reaper hurt me? The short answer is no, it will not harm you. Although the effects of the capsaicin may feel overwhelming at times, eating a Reaper will not hurt you. Although it is technically possible to overdose on capsaicin, you would have to consume an incredible amount of capsaicin, around 150 grams of pure capsaicin—the equivalent to eating 4 pounds of dried Reapers at once! If you want to get to know more about the chemical that makes peppers hot, you can find it here.

Where can I find Carolina Reaper?

You came to the right place! UCHU supplies Carolina in several forms. From fermented mash to powder, you can find Carolina with us! Just get in touch with us here and we will be more than happy to help with Carolina or any other of our 26 peppers!