The Carolina Reaper was once the hottest chili in the world. But that man behind it could not rest on his laurels.

Puckerbutt Pepper Company boss Ed Currie has topped the Reaper – an eye-watering 1.6 million Scoville Units – with his new monstrous creation, Pepper X, which comes in at a face-melting 2.6 million Scoville Units.

Mr Currie told Millsy and Karl on 6PR Breakfast the secret to making the most painful food ever is a whole lot of crossbreeding, attention and passion.

“We look for compounds we know make chillis hot; sometimes it’s a crapshoot, sometimes it works. Sometimes it works really well,” Mr Currie said.

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