There is a new winner of the hottest chile on the market title. It is the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. Even its name makes you shake! The experts at New Mexico State University’s Chile Pepper Institute have classified the Scorpion as the hottest pepper.
Heat from chile peppers are measured in Scoville heat units. A regular jalapeno pepper rates between 2,500 and 8,000 on the Scoville scale, whilst a Habanero is between 100,000 to 350,000 SHU. This Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper rates more than 1.2 million on the Scoville heat scale – and some of these peppers can reach higher, over 2 million!
The Chile Pepper Institute was charged with scientifically establishing which pepper is the hottest by manufacturers of hot sauce and spicy foods. It is very difficult to definitively say which pepper is hottest as each individual pepper has a different heat level that its plant mate.
The researchers planted 125 plants of a variety of the hottest peppers – the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, the Trinidad Scorpion, the 7-pot, the chocolate 7-pot and the Bhut Jolokia. Mature fruits from each plant were randomly selected , harvested, dried and were ground up into powder. Each pepper has a compound that produces heat called a capsaicinoid. These compounds were extracted and the levels tested.
The researchers did not actually taste the peppers – they are leaving that to the daredevils who are willing to set their mouths and taste buds aflame. But they did say that during the picking of the peppers the capsaicinoids burned right through the latex gloves they were using – something that had never happened to them before during their hot pepper research.
Are you a hot pepper eater? What is the hottest pepper you have ever tasted? Would you be willing to taste this Trinidad Moruga Pepper?
Check out these Spicy Recipesand check out this post on Hot and Spicy food.
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The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper is one of my favorite super hots. Love them so much, the business end of our homestead gardens started focusing on the super hot peppers. Today, we grow them in our organic gardens and mail them across the United States.
The fun is in cooking with them. The trick to bringing out their flavor from under all that heat is to cut out the seed / pith area and then flush with cold water. Do this to get out a lot of the heat and you can really taste the hidden flavors of this and other super hot peppers.
I got hooked on chillies in grad school in NM and have been getting hotter ever since. Chillies can become seriously addictive.
I have grown a lot in the spicy department and I do really taste the flavor that the spice can impart on a dish, but I do think it is something one has to get used to. Did you like spicy foods as a kid?
Bravery has nothing to do with it. If you are a chilihead, it’s all about the rush. When you eat hot chilis your body secrets endorphins making it a pain/pleasure experience. Besides they taste really really good!
Wow, you are brave, Habaneros are good, but really spicy already for me, I am impressed.
I love hot foot but I never eat anything hotter than a serrano. And then I use them sparingly. I want to TASTE my food not scorch my tongue. I would definitely never try the Trinidad Scorpion….. Interesting article. I wonder why it was never voted the hottest pepper until now.
Regularly eat/use habaneros. Have also had the Bhut Jolokia, very tasty with good heat. It is only 3X hotter than habaneros, but the habanero has a better flavor. Very fruity, makes a great salsa with pineapple.
AND can’t wait to try the Scorpion!