<p>Smokin Ed's Carolina Reaper is the new world record holder for hottest pepper, according to the Guiness World Records.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"I haven't tried Ed's peppers. I am afraid to," Cliff Calloway, Winthrop University professor whose students tested Currie's peppers, told the Associated Press.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Grown by Ed Currie from the PuckerButt Pepper Company, the Carolina Reaper has an average of more than 1.5 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU), with an individual pepper in one batch measuring 2.2 million SHU. Scoville Units measure the hotness of a pepper. In comparison, a jalepeno pepper is usually 5,000-8,000 SHU, and the Carolina Reaper is nearly as strong as police pepper spray.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Ed Currie, grower of the Carolina Reapers, told the Associated Press that he has been interested in peppers all his life and he has been determined to grow the world's hottest pepper for over a decade. Last year, he quit his job to concentrate full time on cultivating his "weapon quality peppers".<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Ed told Guiness World Records that his interest in chilies became more serious after learning that capsaicin, the spicy component of peppers, has potential as a cancer fighting drug. This discovery caused him to donate half of his pepper harvest to cancer research last year.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Currie also hopes to turn pepper growing into a lucrative business. The USDA reported that Americans are eating 8% more hot peppers than they were five years ago, which suggests hot peppers are a growing market.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://puckerbuttpeppercompany.com/news/the-worlds-hottest-pepper-smokin-eds-carolina-reaper/" target="_new"> Smokin Ed's Carolina Reaper </a><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2013/11/confirmed-smokin-eds-carolina-reaper-sets-new-record-for-hottest-chilli-53033/" target="_new"> Guiness World Records </a><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.voanews.com/content/new-king-of-hot-pepper-crowned-carolina-reaper/1818853.html" target="_new"> Voice of America - Associated Press </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
