This is the World Record Hottest Chili, Carolina Reaper pepper. It is beautiful with a bright red rough surface and a long stinger. But don’t let looks fool you! This pepper got its name for a reason. Be very, very careful using this pepper. Those who don’t fear the Reaper are fools. Scoville: 1.474 million. The Carolina Reaper is a hybrid chili pepper of the Capsicum chinense species, originally called the "HP22B", bred by cultivator Ed Currie. The Carolina Reaper was rated as the world's hottest chili pepper by Guinness World Records according to 2012 tests, averaging 1,569,300 SHU on the Scoville scale with peak levels of over 2,200,000 SHU. The previous record-holder was the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. The cost to Currie to obtain the evidence to claim the Guinness record was $12,000.