Pepper X is the hottest chili pepper in the world because it has an incredible 2.69 million Scoville heat units
Spices and vegetables enrich every dish and are often ingredients of salads and drinks, as well as desserts. Each type of pepper has its own spiciness, but leeks have the mildest taste.

1. Garlic – garlic is attributed medicinal and magical properties around the world. Science has proven it so (because garlic contains numerous active nutritional ingredients). Fresh or dried fruit is an ingredient in almost every savory dish. Garlic is used to flavor vegetable stews, meat dishes, fish, pasta, soups, seafood, mushrooms, salads, but also early sauces and marinades. A good combination is garlic with ginger, fennel, thyme and basil.
2. Onion – Onion originates from the central part of Asia. It is grown all over the world. Fresh fruit is most often used as an addition to dishes. Onions are a basic addition to goulash and paprikash, i.e. dishes originating from Hungary. Onions and onion feathers are added to salads. It is excellent in soups, marinades, sauces, meat dishes. All types of onions combine well with each other, in addition to the combination of onions with bay leaves, salt and pepper. Today, srejemuš, i.e. “bear’s onion”, is added to these well-known species.
3. Leeks – grown as an agricultural crop around the world. The whole plant is used. It has a mild smell and taste. It is added to soups, omelet with eggs, potato, tomato, radish and pea salads. Or make an independent salad, especially during the hot summer months. It is used in various savory pies. It is used in dishes with meat. Leeks are the mildest (compared to onions and garlic) and do not cause burning eyes or tears when chopped.
4. Sweet pepper – thrives in the natural environment from Mexico to Guatemala. The assumption is that Bolivia and Peru are the original homeland of sweet peppers. It is cultivated all over the world. It is used fresh or ground sweet pepper. It is added to goulash, stews, soups, beans and dishes with vegetables. Baked with onions, it is used as a salad. In Spain, it is added to seafood, shellfish, sausages and rice. Garlic, parsley and horseradish are good combinations with sweet pepper.
5. Hot pepper – the substance in hot peppers is capsaicin. Capsaicin has an irritating effect on all mammals, including humans. However, many people enjoy the hot taste of paprika. Fresh or dried fruit is used. It is used for flavoring meat, fish, vegetable, and cheese dishes and in the preparation of dried meat products, sauces, and marinades. Chili is often added to sweet dishes and chocolate. Hot pepper is good in combination with garlic, ginger, cumin and vanilla.
6. Classification of paprika – paprika is basically divided into sweet and hot. There is a division according to colors, i.e. yellow, red, green, purple, orange, white and black peppers. Carolina pepper was the hottest pepper in the world until 2024. In various parts of the world, there are various names of peppers, i.e. chili, cayenne, habanera, jalapeno, etc. In 1912, the American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville devised the “Scoville scale”, i.e. a method of measuring the hotness of peppers according to concentration of capsaicin. That’s why officially the hottest pepper in the world was called “Carolina ripper” because until then it was the only one with 2,200,000 SHU. However, the Guinness Book of Records declared pepper X the hottest chili pepper in the world in January 2024, after the carolina reaper chili pepper was on top for 10 years. In comparison, the classic hot habanero pepper reaches 100,000 Scoville heat units, but pepper X has a whopping 2.69 million units. Both record peppers were grown by the American Ed Currie. He has been working on growing pepper X for a decade on his farm in South Carolina, but would not go into detail about the project to protect intellectual property. In laboratory tests at Winthrop University in South Carolina, pepper X averaged 2,693,000 Scoville heat units (SHU), more than a million units hotter than the carolina reaper, which averaged 1,641,183 SHU. Interestingly, Ed Currie started growing peppers as a hobby after overcoming drug and alcohol addiction, and he says that really hot peppers act as a natural drug. Although people tend to believe that the hotness of peppers comes from their seeds, the capsaicin that gives them their hot sensation is actually found in the tissue that holds the seeds. Ed Currie is one of only five people to eat a whole pepper X. Currie said the pepper X is a cross between a carolina reaper and a pepper a friend sent him from Michigan that was brutally hot. His lawyer pointed out that 10,000 products used the carolina reaper name without permission. In an effort to protect its intellectual property and profit from the world’s hottest pepper, Currie said Pepper X seeds will not be sold over the counter. The only way to taste it will be in hot sauces.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Scoville

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/

from the book A plant as a spice
in the realm of colors, smells and tastes
Author Uroš Buzurović, Ph.D., Aleksandra Maran, Ph.D
Publisher: Natural History Museum Belgrade (Serbia)

https://museu.ms/

https://www.tob.rs/en

https://nhmbeo.rs/

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