The world’s most potent chilli just got even hotter thanks to Britain’s searing summer.
The Carolina Reaper chilli pepper remains the hottest variety on the market, with a Scoville rating of 1.5 million heat units. For comparison a jalapeño has up to 5000 Scoville heat units.
Symptoms can include wretching, burning mouth, sore stomach and sweats. In April a man from New York was taken to hospital after consuming a Carolina Reaper, suffering from “thunderclap headaches”.
Developed in the USA but now grown in Britain, the heatwave has been tipped to make the chilli 20 per cent stronger thanks to the plentiful sunshine.
Tesco chilli pepper buyer Phoebe Burgess said: “This year’s batch of Carolina Reapers are absolute dynamite and the good news for customers is that they’re likely to need less when cooking because they are so strong.
“The Reaper has become a firm favourite with customers because of their rich, fruity flavour and awesome strength but they are only available for about three months – from now till about till the end of September.”
The pepper is exclusively grown by Bedfordshire farmer Salvatore Genovese, who is the UK’s largest chilli pepper grower. Genovese said: “Through more than 15 years growing experience I’ve found that chilli peppers become more potent the hotter the weather.
“Basically if the plant gets stressed because of extra sunshine and hotter temperatures or through drought then it will bear hotter fruit.”
