Carolina Reaper Chile Pod

Carolina Reaper

The infamous Carolina Reaper chile pepper is the hottest pepper known to man. It has claimed that title with a whopping peak heat of 2.2 million on the Scoville scale. For reference, a habanero , which most will agree is plenty hot already, clocks in at less than 10% of the Reaper, at “only” 200,000 units. It’s also 200 times hotter than the downright measley jalapeno pepper. The average heat is a little more manageable at 1.6 million on the scale.

This chile is bred for just that, record heat. However, unlike most purpose bred super hot peppers, the Carolina Reaper has a nice flavor. Many other peppers in this heat range come with a somewhat unpleasantly bitter flavor profile. Sometimes even with chemically hints. But the reaper has a mildly sweet flavor, and a wonderfully smokey and pungent aroma.

Originally bred in South Carolina, this chile has held the crown since 2013, with recent re-certification in 2018. You can find seeds for sale and cultivate your own fresh Carolina Reapers, or you can save the effort and buy our dried pods. We’re carying them by the 4oz bag, as this pepper clearly falls in the ‘a little dab will do you’ category.

This pepper gets a lot of attention for its intense heat, and rightly so. It’s heat can be a real problem though, so please handle it with care, and don’t get sucked in to any dares with this thing at the center of it. We encourage you to use this very sparingly if you’re experimenting with it. If you’ve used it before and know what you’re doing, go for it. Please be careful if not.

If you want extreme heat, but don’t the the pallate melting full power of the Carolina Reaper, consider our Ghost Chiles, which are also available ground to a powder.