Category Archives: Peppers

HP22B, The World’s Next Hottest Pepper?

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Ed Currie claims or perhaps claimed the the HP22B Pepper (HP22B stands for higher power, pot number 22, plant B) is the worlds hottest pepper. At the time of this article Ed claimed that he had numerous samples of the HP22PB tested and they are were coming in between 1.375 to 1.474 million scoville units. It appears that Cliff Calloway, a chemistry professor at Winthrop University was involved in the testing.

While this is “old” news it was recently resurfaced when Pepper Joe claimed to know people who were going to announce a new worlds hottest pepper. This caught a lot of people in the hobby/industry off guard as most have assumed that the moruga scorpion would be the next pepper to wear the Guinness crown for world’s hottest pepper.

Jim Duffy, recent spokesman for the moruga scorpion, takes issue with all of this. In a recent post on the THP he says:

“After following this thread and now hearing about the origin of this pepper I will chime in with my thoughts and some facts. First to clarify some things for Macksack331. Initial application was filed by NMSU for Moruga but will not be fully submitted until after peer review by Hort Science magazine and publishing by Hort Science magazine. This can take weeks or months as I have been told because these are scientists and don’t just rush things along. I want to say that there are some very knowledgeable people on this forum. Some of you do have a science background and some of you do know your Botany. So lets look at the facts that surround this new pepper. First of all is it truly a new variety??? The answer is no. Now before you debate me on this let me define scientifically or Horticulturally what a new variety is. A new variety is stable and you can save seeds from it and grow it out year after year and get the same variety. It takes at least 7 generations or seasons to do this. Does not matter if it is Squash or Peppers. Primo who created the 7 Pot Primo now has a stable strain. The Habalokia which has been around a little while is stable. These guys say they have been working on this for 5 years. My guess is the first few years is playing around with crossing and then testing for heat. Then once you find out what you have you breed that for 7 generations. So the time period tells me there is no new strain. So why would anyone want seeds of something not yet true??

My second observation is this. Environment cannot make a new pepper. Maybe over thousands of years environment can affect genetics but not in a few years. The people involved in this project say they used certain techniques to stress the peppers. This will only afftect that particular season and will have no bearing on future seasons grown from future seeds. So why would anyone want seeds?? The Chile Pepper Institute grew their test plots with normal farming just like green chiles. True a New Mexico summer will be hotter than a Northeast summer so there will be higher ratings for peppers grown there. But at least there was no deliberate stress from a nutrient regimen. And if this hybrid pepper chemically stressed does got so hot just imagine using these guys stressing techniques on a Douglah? Moruga? or Butch T? How hot would they turn out?? Of course it behooves everyone involved in this South Carolina study to create a new pepper. Just like Frank Garcia you become exclusive and patent and Trademark and make as much as you can. I am not against making money but do these guys have a Primo and are they calling it something new so it can be their exclusive rights pepper?? I leave that up to all of you to think about. These guys say they have a higher mean average over 3 years. They say they are using stressing techniques. So all that is proven is that their stressing techniques gave them higher tests. Wake up everyone! It does not mean they have a hotter pepper. It just means they can make a pepper test rate hotter! Again stressing is not going to create a hotter pepper for future growing! But Joe and his friends know this and are hoping you dont look at these facts and spend your money. One more time folks stressing and environment will not genetically make a hotter pepper variety!!! Thats why the Institute does not do this. They grew in a clay field with limited nutrients. The Chile Pepper Institute is non profit. A graduate student ran this last study for his Thesis. Whether Guinness rubber stamps it I do not care. But at least the Moruga is a real variety and not a made up one. And at least it was grown like any other pepper. What I see is a well laid out plan by some businessman to make a lot of money off the unsuspecting General Public who wont know squat about Botany 101 or Scoville testing.”

Jim also goes on to say:

“I just find this hard to swallow. If they assembled a team 5 yrs ago then they cannot have a new variety. Because they would at least spend a few seasons crossing to get their potential hottest. Then upon finding that out go about making it stable. Unless of course there never was any crossing at all and they took an existing variety and used feeding techniques to stress it which does not create a new pepper at all. This sounds so much like the Naga Viper. Bosland’s group submits all their stuff to other scientists for peer review. So I wonder if these guys would too. Then again if they did call this a new variety that would be false and it would not be submittable on that basis alone.

One other thing I find funny. These guys plan to release hot sauces with this new pepper to make lots of money. I find that hilarious. Why? Because I know most of the sucessful sauce makers and sucess in the sauce business is limited. Most everyone I know has a day job except Dave, Blair and CaJohn. So just because you have a gimmick ie Hottest Pepper you will not be catapulted to sucess. Sucess in the sauce business is many, many years of hard work. Lots of wholesale customers (CaJohn’s business is 85% wholesale), and a product line that has great tasting products to get repeat sales. When the Bhut Jolokia got fame it did not make any individual sauce maker have great sucess. So any new pepper won’t either. And calling your Company PuckerButt won’t get you on mainsteam grocery shelves either. Having the Hottest pepper sauce does not do it all. Blair and Dave started with extract sauces in the beginning when people were looking for hotter than habanero. Now Blair makes so much money selling spicy snacks to the Asian market and Dave makes Gourmet cooking sauces and that is where they turned the corner. John has spent over 15 yrs to get where he is. And talking to him the other day He said if he knew going in it would be this hard he would not do it over again. I really don’t see PuckerButt or Joe making even a small fortune with this so called hottest pepper. Just sayin……”

Edit: March 28
I have yet to see Ed respond directly anywhere outside of his Facebook page but wanted to pull some of his clarifying comments into this post.

Feb 10 (Facebook comment from Ed in response to the moruga scorpion news)

“Sorry we’ve been gone for awhile, getting the seedlings going and planning out the farms. Looks like were expanding 5 x at least, WOW. The good doctor and I sent Guinness the final report with the stats on the lab equiptment. There are lots of claims out there, what makes us different is we are using a weighted average over four years now. The low range is 1.275 mil the highs are secret now ( just incase we have to play the who’s hotter game). Well over 200 lbs of hp22bs have been tested, awesome statistic, proper scientific process, and superior analysis. If they don’t give it to us, we’re publishing here in the US. Thanks for all the support and God Bless.”

Feb 17 (Facebook comment from Ed in response to the moruga scorpion news)

“K, the title has not been awarded. If you read the actual report, they’re saying one of the peppers was that hot, but the sample was average of 1.2 MILLION. Also, no back up data of retest is avaliable. We have a three year average of @1.5 MILLION. The data to back it up, and we will only show the averages. We gave hotter, yes
Is it good science to go with only that, no.”

March 22 (Facebook comment in response to claims about the cost to apply ($30,000) to Guinness World’s Records)

“The total they sent me was almost that, after the FX rate. When I figured out 19000 was the adjudicators fee, I decided we didn’t need it. the good Dr sent testing methods and lab calibrations to them last week to finish what they requested. The record would be cool, but I just like what I’m doing. Thanks again. Hope all is well”

March 21 (Facebook response to questions about averages vs highs being used for hottest pepper records)

“My understanding from reading the press releases, was that one pepper rated that scoville and the average of the test ( 10 peppers if I remember correctly) was 1.200,000. That would mean 9 of 10 were under a million. I congradulate CPI and the Morouga, Wishing them the best of luck on the future years of testing, but I’m following a different AAOC scientific method. We only publish averages for pounds of peppers over multiple years. If we are going to start publishing one off ratings instead of averages, I guess it;s time to start pulling out the high numbers. I did ask the Proffessor to get the highs and lows on this years testing ( @ 50 lbs of peppers submitted), so we’ll see. But I honestly don’t know if I’m will to start that game.”

I’ve also read a lot of speculation that the HP22B is just a 7 pot Primo being given a different name.

The article I linked to earlier indicates that Ed may hold a contest for the naming rights to this pepper. While unconfirmed Pepper Joe appears to be working with Ed and has started a contest for naming the HP22B pepper. According to info Joe posted he threw a few names for the pepper at the guys and they liked them so Joe has contest going collecting more names and I believe is giving away some free seeds. See for yourself.

In closing here’s a video of a guy trying the HP22B, the “next hottest pepper in the world”…

My $$$ is still on the 7 pot douglah being recognized by Guinness as the world’s next hottest pepper.

The Pepper Search Engine

Use The Pepper Search Engine

Pepper Search FAQ

Q: Why did you make a pepper search engine?
A: Growing hot peppers is a hobby of mine and I found that more often than not the best hot pepper related content was not easily found in Google. By limiting what gets in the pepper search engine I eliminated all of the “noise” and can find higher quality pepper related information faster. I’m adding new pages and sites all the time as I find them.

Q: How does the search engine rank the results it returns?
A: The same way Google does. I am not adjusting any of the results.

Q: Sometimes I get the same site in the results multiple times, why?
A: This will happen less and less as I add more sites and pages to the search engine.

Q: Should I search the same way I do on Google?
A: You can although since this search engine is pepper specific you can get away with more generic terms. For example, compare the results for a search for “soil” on pepper search and on Google: soil on pepper search | soil on Google.

Q: Where is the pepper search engine?
A: Here.

Q: I have a question about pepper search, how can I get in touch with you?
A: You can ask questions in the comments. No spam please.

Q: How can I add my site to the pepper search engine or suggest a site that I don’t own?
A: Email [email protected] with the subject line Site For Pepper Search. If that’s not in the subject line I’ll never see the email.

Q: I emailed you, will you let me know when you include my site?
A: No. The best way to see if your site is included in the the pepper search engine is to search for it by name using the pepper search engine.

Q: Can I leave in the link in the comments to a site or page you should add?
A: Sure…although if the site is at all commercial in nature odds are strong I will not approve the comment and wont add the site to pepper search. Nothing personal just don’t have the time to filter through the spam.

Q: Can I pay you to add my site to the pepper search engine?
A: No. I use the search engine personally and only want it to include the highest quality information. If a site or page meets that criteria I will add it, if it does not I will not.

Pepper Joe Claims a New Hottest Pepper is Coming

64 Replies

According to a post by Pepper Joe he knows a few people that are planning to unveil the world’s hottest pepper in two weeks. If true that would be a fairly significant event seeing that the initial Moruga Scorpion test results were just published and as of yet they have not been officially recognized by Guinness. As of the date of this post (2.24.2012) Guinness still recognizes the Butch T Trinidad Scorpion as the world’s hottest pepper.

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.

Morouga Scorpion = 7 Pot Brain Strain?

15 Replies

Or is it 7 pot brain strain = morouga scorpion? Shortly after the announcement came out that the morouga scorpion had tested at over 2 million scoville heat units a rumbling started in the hot pepper community that the morouga scorpion wasn’t actually a scorpion at all. It was a 7 pot, and not just an y 7 pot, but the 7 pot that in recent years has been referred to as the 7 pot brain strain. Right now the discussion of this topic is taking place in a few different forums and does appear to be resolved. Here’s what I’ve been able to piece together.

In July 2008 and August 2008 cmpman1974 posted pictures of what he was calling Trinidad Scorpion Morouga Blend. He indicated he received the seeds in early 2007. As usual great pictures, to the right is one from the forum thread linked to in the previous sentence. Check out the thread for the other pictures. In another area of that same site there are pictures and mention of the word “morouga scorpion” as early as September 2007. The author seems to indicate that the morouga scorpion is “new” and it likely a scorpion 7 pot hybrid. Specifically he says (translated):

“In 2007 and even more in 2008, many fans have grown varieties now known as super-hot.
Because of cross-pollinations, scrolls or random, have appeared a whole series of hybrids and variants.
In some cases the results are significant because they have been retained some typical characteristics (such as the sharpness, the roughness dell’esocarpo, the coating on the inner walls of placenta), but variants have shapes and / or new colors very interesting.
They saw and 7Pod Yellow Scorpion, Scorpion and 7Pod hybrids, super-hot chocolate-colored etc..
Among all deserve a mention Morouga Blend (probably hybrid Scorpion/7Pod) and Trinidad Douglah (super-hot chocolate with an incredible amount of placenta) “

Those mentions and pictures are the earliest I could find for the morouga blend scorpion. Overall there’s quite a bit of evidence online that supports the timeline and look of the morouga scorpion. Seems Chris was the best known source for this pepper and pictures and posts validate that he probably did indeed receive the seeds in early 2007.

Where the takes a turn for the interesting is when you start talking about the 7 Pot Brain Strain. I wrote a post on the brain strain in 2011 that includes links and photos…worth checking out if I don’t say so myself:-) The earliest mention I could find of the word “brain” in association with this pepper was September 18, 2008. While I haven’t been able to piece it together exact it looks like Pepper Ridge Farm aka Brain Strain also acquired his seeds in 2007. At this point it’s safe to say that PRF and cmpman1974 did not get their seeds from the same person. Same country/region…probably but not the same person.

If that was the end of the story, based on all of the pictures I have found and the dates when various things were posted I would say cmpman1974 and PRF received seeds from the same pepper from different people that were called different things. Happens all the time in pepper land. I would defer to the name Trinidad Scorpion Morouga Blend too since by all written and photo accounts it was the first name with an official name. Of course though that’s not where it ends though or there would be no point in this post! There’s speculation that as the post title suggests, the Morouga Blend is actually not a scorpion at all, it’s the 7 pot brain strain. Here are a few of the theories I have read…none of which at the time I am writing this have been proven one way or the other.

1. Jim Duffy received seeds for the 7 pot brain strain and grew those as well as the morouga blend scorpion seeds he indirectly received from cmpman1974. When it came time to send in seeds/samples for the test he sent in Brain Strain seeds, not Morouga Scorpion seeds.

2. The Morouga seeds cmpman1974 originally received were mislabeled and were indeed 7 pots, not scorpions. While no one’s flat out said this I’ve read posts by a number of people that indicate every morouga scorpion they have ever grown or seen has been smooth not bumpy like the morouga’s in cmpman1974’s pictures.

3. The 7 pot Brain Strain is not a 7 pot at all, it’s the morouga blend scorpion and was mislabeled when the original seeds were received.

4. Unbeknownst to PRF and/or cmpman1974 one or both sets of original seeds were crosses. What they ended up growing and subsequently spreading around was not what they thought it was.

What do I think…I’m not sure and by no means any kind of expert. If I had to put a theory out there I would say that the brain strain and morouga scorpion are not the same pepper. My guess is that the morouga scorpion is a 7 pot / scorpion hybrid and if you have the real deal it should look similar to all the pictures that cmpman1974 has posted. The Brain Strain is probably a 7 pot that shows traits that were picked up by the morouga scorpion when it was originally crossed with a 7 pot. The two peppers probably share some similar genetics and traits but if tested would be found to be distinctly different. Keep in mind a theory is just a fancy word for guess:-)

I’ll try and keep up with the conversations and will post updates or corrections as more facts come out.

7 Pot Douglah – The World’s 2nd Hottest Chili Pepper

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For now. The recently released test results for the moruga scorion also included results for three other peppers, one of which was called “chocolate 7-pot”. The chocolate 7 pot tested at 1,853,396 SHU on the high end and 923,889 SHU on the low end. It’s mean SHU of 1,169,058 was second only moruga scorpion. Given the chocolate 7 pot’s high highs and consistently high lows I don’t think it’s unreasonable to speculate that if tested again in the future it would not be a shock to see the chocolate 7 pot surpass the 2 million scoville mark of the moruga scorpion.

At this point you ay be wondering why the title of this post is “7 pot douglah” but all I have mentioned is the chocolate 7 pot. In a recent post Jim Duffy shed some light on the chocolate 7 pot used in the tests. Jim said: “Now the Chocolate 7 Pot they mention was Douglah. I got my Douglah seeds from Neal and Semillas. “

News of the douglah possibly being the hottest won’t come as shock to those who have had one. I’ve read post after post and watched countless taste test videos where the verdict was that the douglah was the hottest pepper the person had ever tasted. My personal experience is the same. I think it’s a toss up between the 7 pot brain strain and the 7 pot douglah. While both peppers tore me up I was not at all fond of the douglah taste. The brain strain has a pleasant taste for about 2 seconds until my face started to melt.

I grew a douglah last year but it turned red. The common theme in the discussion was that douglah can’t be red. Fast forward a few months and another forum member had the same thing happen, a red douglah. That person happens to sell seeds and I noticed that this year seeds from those red douglah pods are being sold as Trinidad Red Douglah Offspring. The ones I grew were super hot..right up there with the hottest I’ve tried. I saved a bunch of seeds from the one I grew, maybe I should plant a few this year…

Should be interesting to see how this plays out. My money’s on the douglah taking the record for hottest pepper at some point…now the question is will be it the classic brown douglah or a red douglah offspring?

Links to Douglah information / discussions

– Douglah
– Trinidad Douglah
– Trinidad Douglah (C. Chinense)
– Brown 7pod Vs. Douglah
– Various forms of trinidad douglah pod in a plant, is this normal?
– Red Douglah
– Red Douglah
– Sam vs the 7 Pot Douglah Chile Pepper

Douglah Taste Test Videos

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Growing peppers, pepper seeds, pepper uses and peppery things of interest.