According to a WBTV interview with Ed Currie, owner of Puckerbutt Pepper Company who created the Carolina Reaper, there is a new contender for the title.
HP56 or HP56 Death Strain, as some have called it, weighs in at almost 3 Million Scoville Heat Units. The Carolina Reaper’s hottest SHU rating was 2.2 Million. Currie became the current record holder with the Carolina Reaper back in 2013.

The HP56 Pepper
I’ve got a gift. I have a gift. Thank you God for the gift!
-Ed Currie
Currie seems to be proud of his new creation and we’re really excited to see how this one unfolds. Check out the interview and see the reporters reaction to tasting this new pepper below.
Summary
This one looks different to the picture published in another report! Really want to see and hear more about this pepper!
I thought the scorpion pepper was the hottest in the world
or is the hp a scorpion pepper
The reaper has been the hottest according to the Guinness Book since 2013.
How can you order some Carolina reaper peppers. And what is the cost sir?
I would really like to get my hands (gloves) on some of these peppers. Where can I purchase them from
If folk were looking for fresh Carolina Reaper, just google the term fresh Carolina Reaper. We grow and sell the pepper fresh, but only in season. Here in Kentucky, they are not currently in season.
If folk were looking for fresh Death Strain, not likely to find them for at least a few years. Many of the articles I have seen have Ed Currie saying they are not yet stable. Even if they were stable before next season, that would mean the seeds were available in a year from now. Add that season for folk to grow them and you are looking at two years before fresh peppers are available.
Making it a bit longer, Ed Currie’s company Puckerbutt has a history of selling its hybrids with a rule that says you can not sell the pods you grow. So unless Puckerbutt pepper company were to sell the pods, you are out of luck unless you wait for the seeds and grow them yourself.
Just because it might max out higher doesn’t mean it could be the new world’s hottest. That goes to the pepper with the highest average heat. The reaper only hits about 1.5 million shu on average, that 2.2 is the extreme upper limit of what the breed is capable of, and you’re pretty much assured to never grow one that hot yourself.
So we’ll have to wait and see what an independant third party testing facility comes up with over a wide number of pods from multiple different plants.
[…] The Carolina Reaper pepper might lose its worlds hottest pepper rating due to the HP56, according to new data posted at the PepperHeads for Life website at http://pepperheadsforlife.com/carolina-reaper-may-no-longer-be-the-worlds-hottest-pepper. […]
[…] The Scoville Scale for Peppers is the official rating system that helps people who consume peppers to find out the heat rating in the United States. The PepperHeads for Life company has now posted new data that reveals the Carolina Reaper may lose its rating of the worlds hottest pepper at http://pepperheadsforlife.com/carolina-reaper-may-no-longer-be-the-worlds-hottest-pepper. […]
I would like to talk to Ed Cury. I love not peppers