By the time you finish reading this article, get ready to crave something spicy. While Indians aren’t foreign to spicy peppers, this news is surely going to alarm you. Gregory Foster, a resident of California, ate the world’s hottest chilli peppers in a record time of 8.72 seconds. This time includes the time he took to chew and swallow the peppers! He obtained the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to eat three Carolina Reaper chilli peppers by defeating Canadian Mike Jack, who ate an equal number of these red-hot sizzlers in 9.72 seconds previously.
Gregory’s first failed attempt
The feat that Gregory achieved wasn’t done on his first try. Interestingly, it was Gregory’s second attempt after his first one was disqualified that won him the world record. The first attempt was disqualified as the pepper in Gregory’s mouth had not been swallowed by the 9.72 seconds, which was the mark of the previous record holder. So, he ended up consuming not three, but actually a total of six of the world's hottest chilli peppers in quick succession, in order to win the world record.
What is the Carolina Reaper Chilli?
The Caroline Reaper Chilli wasn’t found in nature, but developed by an American breeder by the name of Ed Currie through cross breeding of other peppers. Interestingly, Ed had never planned on breeding the hottest chilli in the world, his breeding was actually a happy accident of his botanic experiments. Visually, this pepper is red and gnarled, with a bumpy texture and small pointed tail.
How spicy is this pepper?
The crazy spicy Carolina Reaper was officially recognised as the ‘World’s Hottest Pepper’ by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2018. “The Carolina Reaper pepper - the hottest chilli pepper record holder - has an average of 1,641,183 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), according to tests conducted by Winthrop University in South Carolina, USA,” the Guinness Book of World Records said in a statement. If you think jalapeños are hot, get this : by comparison, the average Jalapeño pepper, scores between 2,500 and 8,500 SHU.
If reading this article has tapped in to the experimental side to you, then you could try out this recipe by Chef Adriana Martin with the Carolina reaper as an ingredient :
Roasted Carolina Reaper Salsa
Ingredients:
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon Mexican oregano
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 Carolina Reaper pepper
Method:
- Start by roasting the tomatoes, the garlic cloves, and the Carolina Reaper pepper uisng a skillet. Set the flame at medium to high heat.
- The tomatoes will be ready to peel after the roasting process is done. Removing the skin allows for a better-looking salsa.
- Using a fork and a knife, remove the vein and the seeds of Carolina Reaper pepper and use it whole or half, depending on how spicy you want the salsa.
- Add all the ingredients in the blender until salsa has a luscious consistency.
- Pour salsa into a mason jar or a plastic container with a lid, and enjoy with all your meals.
- Keep the salsa refrigerated.