Carolina Reaper
/ˌkærəˈlaɪnə ˈriːpər/
CommonThe world's hottest pepper by Guinness record, used as a shorthand for anything unbearably spicy.
In food communities it is a literal ingredient. In casual online use it is more often a hyperbole, the way people say something burned like a Carolina Reaper even when the food is just very spicy.
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | this salsa has carolina reaper in it and my face has not stopped sweating | The salsa contains the pepper and the heat is very intense. | tiktok, 2023 |
| 02 | ordered wings with carolina reaper sauce and regretted it immediately | The wings were far too hot and the person wished they had ordered something milder. | x, 2022 |
| 03 | the paqui chip uses carolina reaper which is why it actually hospitalizes people | Explaining why the one-chip challenge chip causes serious physical reactions. | reddit, 2023 |
Use it when
- Referring to the actual pepper variety in a food or spice context.
- Using it as a benchmark for extreme heat.
- Describing a product that contains Carolina Reaper extract.
Do not use it when
- You mean a different super-hot pepper like the Pepper X or ghost pepper.Use “ghost-pepper” instead.
- You just mean something is moderately spicy.
Carolina Reaper vs ghost pepper
Carolina Reaper
The Carolina Reaper averages over 1.5 million Scoville units and held the world record.
ghost-pepper
The ghost pepper averages around 1 million Scoville units and was the world's hottest before the Reaper.
Origin and context
Bred by Ed Curlin in Rock Hill, South Carolina and certified by Guinness as the world's hottest pepper in 2013. Remained at the top of most heat rankings for over a decade before being surpassed by Pepper X in 2023, also bred by Curlin.
- First seen
- 2013
- Confidence
- high
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/carolina-reaper