Carolina Reaper pepper plants

The record holder for a decade, and still the benchmark everyone quotes.

By Debra Austin

Species: Capsicum chinense

What a Carolina Reaper is

The Carolina Reaper is a Capsicum chinense bred by Ed Currie in South Carolina, a cross of a ghost pepper and a red habanero. Guinness certified it as the world's hottest in 2013 at an average of 1.64 million SHU, and it held the record until Pepper X took it in 2023.

The pod is unmistakable: wrinkled, red, and finished with a scorpion tail that curls off the end. Orange and yellow selections exist and are the same plant with different colour genes.

Carolina Reaper against the rest

Against a ghost, a Carolina Reaper is about twice the heat and much faster. The burn is immediate rather than delayed, and it sits at the front of the mouth rather than the back of the throat.

Against a 7 Pot or a Moruga, the differences are smaller than the marketing suggests. All three live in the same range, and the growing conditions of a particular season move the number more than the variety name does.

If you're chasing the far end of the scale, our Dragon's Breath pepper plant is a Welsh Capsicum chinense that its creators claim peaks near 2.48 million SHU.

Red, orange, and yellow Carolina Reapers

The red pod is the one Guinness measured. Orange and yellow are color selections of the same variety, and we list all three, plus a pink tiger cross that carries the name. They are not milder because they are not red. A peach Reaper is not on the list.

How hot a Carolina Reaper is

The certified average is about 1.64 million SHU, with a peak that was published over 2.2 million. Pepper X later took the record. Your pod will move with sun and stress. It will not become a habanero.

Growing them

This is a long-season chinense that wants everything: heat, light, a big pot and time. Expect 120 days or more from transplant to a properly ripe pod, and expect the plant to look unremarkable for most of that.

The heat a Carolina Reaper reaches depends heavily on how hard it was grown. Stress, sun and a long finish push the number up; a cool wet season pulls it down.

The Carolina Reapers we grow

Questions people ask

How hot is a Carolina Reaper?

Guinness certified an average of 1.64 million SHU with a peak over 2.2 million. It held the world record from 2013 until 2023.

What is hotter than a Carolina Reaper?

Pepper X, bred by the same grower, took the Guinness record in 2023 at around 2.69 million SHU.

Are yellow and orange Carolina Reapers different peppers?

They are colour selections of the same variety, not separate peppers.

Does a Carolina Reaper always reach its rated heat?

No. Rated figures come from peak measurements. How hard the plant was grown moves the result more than most people expect.