“How bad could it be?” was the last thought before I took a small bite of the Carolina Reaper pepper I had grown in my (toxicology-required) garden. “Am I going to die?” was the next thought as I swigged milk to extinguish the blowtorch in my mouth, mopped sweat off my forehead, tried not to retch, and rethought recent life-choices.

The Carolina Reaper pepper.

The Chili Pepper

Chili peppers (Capsicum species; Greek Kapto, “to bite”) are thought to have been domesticated in central and south America in about 10,000 BCE. There are five primary species used commercially and are upright annual shrubs with dark green ovoid leaves that produce small white to yellow flowers that develop into round or elongated fruits. Because of the heat sensation they provide, they feature prominently as a key food ingredient in Latin American, African, and Asian cuisines. India and China are primary suppliers of chilies in the world.

A cross-section of the Carolina Reaper.

Taxonomy

The chili pepper plants belong to the family Solanaceae which includes the genus Solanum (nightshade, tomato, potato); Nicotiana (belladonna, jimsonweed, tobacco); and Capsicum (including hot peppers and bell).

Nomenclature

The basic references to this plant are confusing and include “peppers” and “chili” (also spelled chile or chilli). Chili peppers are not actually ‘peppers’ (e.g., black pepper (Piper nigrum), which are berries that contain spicy piperine) but are the fruits of capsicum plants (originating from Central and South Americas and contain capsaicin). The misattribution began when they were brought back to Spain in the 15th century by Christopher Columbus from the West, and he called them ‘peppers’ because of its similar effects on his tongue and the name stuck.¹ Adding more confusion, some countries refer to these fruits as ‘peppers’ when they are fresh and ‘chilies’ when they are dried.

A habanero pepper.

Carolina Reaper, under whose effects I was suffering, is a cultivar of (Capsicum chinense) and was declared in 2013 to be the hottest chili pepper in the world with greater than 1.6 million Scoville units. It was developed by Ed Currie (founder of Puckerbutt Pepper Co.), who considers hot pepper cultivation one of his life’s goals and a factor in his sobriety from a substance use disorder—in part because of capsaicin’s induction of endorphin release.

Toxin

Chili peppers’ pungency (spicy heat) when ingested or applied topically is due to capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide, (C18H27NO3)) and several related chemicals, as a group called capsaicinoids. Humans perceive each capsaicinoid differently. Nordihydrocapsaicin’s sensation is described as “warm” and “least irritating,” which recedes rapidly; capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin are described as “irritating,” and produce heat in the mouth, palate, and throat; and homodihydrocapsaicin is described as very “irritating, harsh, and very sharp,” affecting the back of the mouth and throat which comes on slowly and lasts a long time. Combinations of these toxins produce different heat profiles of different chilis.²