美食趣聞:世界上最辣的辣椒,你敢挑戰嗎

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the hottest peppers in the world are the Carolina Reaper peppers grown in South Carolina by Ed Currie of PuckerButt Pepper Co.

根據吉尼斯世界紀錄的認證，世界上最辣的辣椒是美國南卡羅來納州的男子艾德-柯里種植的“卡羅來納死神”。

Currie spent More than four years working with students at Winthrop University to alter a sweet hot pepper from the Caribbean. During tests at Winthrop, the Reaper averaged just shy of 1.6 million Scoville Heat Units. To put that in perspective, a standard jalapeno pepper registers around 5,000 on the Scoville scale.

柯里花了四年多的時間，和溫斯洛普大學的學生們一起合作，改良了一種來自加勒比海的甜辣椒。在溫斯洛普大學進行的測試中，“卡羅來納死神” 的平均辣度爲驚人的160萬度（以史高維爾辣度單位來衡量）。讓大家有個辣度概念：正常的墨西哥辣椒約5000度。

The previous record holder, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper, was measured by New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute with a mean of more than 1.2 million Scoville Heat Units.

之前“世界上最辣的辣椒”的紀錄保持者是千里達魔蠍椒，根據新墨西哥州立大學辣椒研究所的測量，千里達魔鬼毒蠍椒的平均辣度爲120多萬。

Those are just the averages… The hottest batch of Currie's peppers, code named HP22B clocked in at 2.2 million on the Scoville scale.

不過這也只是平均水平。卡羅來納死神中有一批代號爲HP22B的辣椒的辣度高達220萬度。

Currie sells Carolina Reaper seeds and hot sauces on the PuckerButt Pepper website. With names like “I Dare You Stupid” and “Purgatory,” Currie makes it fairly obvious he isn’t kidding about the heat.

柯里在PuckerButt辣椒網站上出售卡羅來納死神辣椒的種子和辣椒醬。他給這些產品命名爲“我猜你沒那麼傻”和“煉獄”，就是想跟潛在顧客說清楚：他可沒在開玩笑。

This warning also helps to clarify that it might be wise to think twice before trying one of these sauces at home:

他還給出了一個警告提示，提醒大家在決定買辣椒醬之前要三思而後行：

“After touching or handling hot peppers always remember to wash your hands with a product containing acidity such as lime or lemon juice. Some of our peppers are smokin’ hot and if not properly handled will temporarily damage skin tissue. When sharing your hot peppers with others, please let them know to use with caution.”

“在碰了我們的卡羅來納死神後，一定記得要用酸性產品（比方說檸檬或檸檬汁）洗手。我們的辣椒真的非常非常辣，如果沒有妥當處理，會對皮膚組織造成暫時傷害。在跟其他人分享讓他們嘗我們的辣椒時，也記得讓他們小心品嚐。”