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Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
National
USA TODAY

The hottest pepper in the world — what is it and can you eat it?

Ed Currie Mexico Peru
The world’s hottest pepper is the Carolina Reaper. The pepper peaked at about 2.2 million Scoville Heat Units. For comparison, a jalapeño pepper registers about 2,500 to 8,000 SHU and cayenne pepper is 30,000 to 50,000 SHU. (stock.adobe.com)

Are you a fan of spicy foods? How about the hottest pepper in the world? The title is a coveted one, ranked by the Guinness World Records and held by chili farmers looking to challenge the meaning of the word “spicy.”

There are an estimated 50,000 types of chili peppers in the world, resulting from domestication over 6,000 years ago in Peru and Mexico. These peppers file into five categories — Capsicum annuum, Capsicum chinense, Capsicum frutescens, Capsicum baccatum and Capsicum pubescens.

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