Joe’s making a few other interesting claims as well:
1. 50+ pounds of hot peppers have been tested.
2. Tests have taken place over a 5 year period
3. Most of the “Trinidad” peppers actually originated in China (DNA tests will prove it)
4. There’s already an application pending with Guinness (it can be $30,000+ to get in?)
5. The person who is claiming to have the world’s next hottest pepper also claims to have created 600 varieties of peppers!
My money’s on the douglah being the next record setting pepper but if they guys Joe has been talking with are on the up and up we could be in for a surprise.
While I don’t sell pepper seeds I do buy them and know a bunch of seed sellers. As spring approaches for a large portion of the united states the pepper seed selling starts ramping up but when does it peak? In terms of online activity – specifically search volume, interest in pepper seeds peaks Feb/Mar with March being the clear winner in recent years:
Equally as interesting to seed sellers would be knowing if in general pepper seeds are becoming more popular or less popular. My guess would be more popular (I’m biased!) but let’s take a closer look:
Seed sellers rejoice! Not only are pepper seeds rising in popularity but since 2009 the popularity of pepper seed related searches has risen considerably faster than the gardening and landscaping search category as a whole. The trend really accelerated in 2011 which indicate seed sellers can expect strong demand in 2012.
I predict that 2012 will still be the year of the ghost pepper. Even though the Butch T Scorp took the record in 2011 it’s still a looooong way from taking any real market share from the bhut jolokia / ghost pepper. Last year was the first time that search volume for the Butch T grew faster than search volume for the habanero and that passing was extremely short and temporary…as of now habanero has retaken it’s spot above the Butch T.
Seed sellers prepare for the year of the ghost pepper, again!
As of June 4 2011 the official Guinness World’s Record page has been updated and recognizes the Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T” as the hottest pepper in the world.
Meet the Butch T Trinidad Scorpion chilli pepper:
Here’s a great ButchT TS taste test video(some foul language):
And another:
And another…
And one more…
These are the best Trinidad Scorpion Butch T pictures (taken by POTAWIE) I’ve seen:
Butch T Trinidad Scorpion Facts and Information
– The record setting Butch T Trinidad Scorpion tested at 1,463,700 SHU (SHU = scoville heat units). The current official Guinness record holder is the Naga Viper pepper which tested at 1,382,118 scoville heat units.
– The record setting Butch T Scorpion was grown in Australia by The Chilli Factory.
– The Hippy Seed Company supplied the seeds to the Chilli Factory that were used to grow the 1,463,700 SHU ButchT Trinidad Scorpions.
– The name ButchT or Butch T is after Butch Taylor. Butch is the owner of Zydeco Hot Sauce and person credited with originally discovering this strain. According to a post in this thread Butch was growing out the the Jonah strain, noticed a pod variation and saved the seed. He’s been sharing the seeds for a few years. When sending out seeds Butch would include his first name last initial (common when swapping seeds) on the seed package.
– According to a comment in this post from Butch he originally acquired the seeds from a seed bank and they had been sent to that bank by ” “Mark” from New Jersey, he used to go by the username of Groovyone on the old gardenweb site”. Learn more about the origin of the Butch T seeds here – The Trail of the Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T” Strain.
Trinidad Scorpion Butch T Seeds
If you’re in to hot peppers you will at some point want to grow this fireball. Here are a few places that may have the ButchT TS seeds for sale. No guarantees and important to note I have not personally ordered seeds from any of these suppliers unless otherwise noted.
Lastly here’s a link to another post here at the ThePepperSeed, The Hottest Peppers in the World. While not specially about the ButchT TS it is mentioned in the list and there are links and other related info in the comments section.
This is a not another “top 10 hottest peppers in the world” list and I’m not attempting to answer the question, “what is the hottest pepper in the world”. It seems what is considered to be the world’s hottest pepper is always changing and in many cases not officially documented or is in dispute. That’s why this won’t be an ordered list of the hottest peppers, but rather a list of peppers that are for the most part accepted as some of the hottest in the world. I plan to keep this updated as I discover other hot peppers worthy of inclusion. If you know of one or more that should be included here please add them in the comments.