As of August, 2013, Guinness World Records stated that Smokin’ Ed’s Carolina Reaper® is officially the world’s hottest chile pepper. Originally named the “HP22BNH7”, bred by cultivator Ed Currie, who runs PuckerButt Pepper Company in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The original cross was between two former world record holders, the ghost pepper and a Red Savina Habanero. It is, to date, the world’s hottest hybrid pepper. Ed Currie began growing peppers because of his interest in the health benefits of hot peppers, born from his family’s history of early death from heart disease and cancer. He found that indigenous populations from around the world who eat hot peppers with meals have extremely small instances of these diseases, prompting his focus