These kinds of questions drive me crazy....
Which of the following is the world's hottest pepper?
- Jalapeno Pepper
- Banana Pepper
- Habanero Pepper
- Cayenne Pepper
If you want to answer the question in a manner that gets you 250 points, you should answer
Habanero Pepper. But that's the wrong answer. Of the four peppers listed as options, the habenero is certainly the hottest in the world of the four, it's not the world's hottest pepper.
The previous record holder, since 2007, as recognized by the chili pepper authority - the New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute, and the Guinness Book of World Records, is the Naga Bhut Jolokia pepper, also known as the Naga Jolokia, Ghost Pepper, and Red Naga Chili. The Naga Jolokia has an official Scoville rating of 1,001,304, while the Red Savina Habanero, which held the record from 1994 until 2006 when it was dethroned, has an official rating of 248,556 Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
But the new record holder is the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Pepper, which comes in at a cool 2,009,231 SHU (which actually surpasses law enforcement-grade pepper spray at 1.5 million). The golf ball sized pepper was thoroughly tested and evaluated amongst all of the hottest peppers (125 plants of each variety – the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, the Trinidad Scorpion, the 7-pot, the Chocolate 7-pot, the Scotch Bonnet, the Habanero Chili, the Red Savina Habanero, and the Bhut Jolokia,) and the average mean of the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion 1.2 million SHU, which eclipses the highest ever recorded for the Habanero Pepper of 580,000.
So, to sum up, not only is the Habanero Pepper not the hottest pepper in the world, there are six count 'em six varieties that are hotter - the Naga Viper, Infinity Chili, Bhut Jolokia, Trinidad Scorpion Butch T, Bedfordshire Super Naga, and the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper.
But I got my 250 points, which is the important thing, I suppose.