World's hottest (and healthiest) pepper unveiled in south carolina

World's hottest (and healthiest) pepper unveiled in South Carolina.




(NaturalNews) On August 27, PuckerButt Pepper Company, a manufacturer
and distributor of all natural chili pepper products and seeds,
announced the debut of the world's hottest pepper: Smokin' Ed's Carolina
Reaper. "We have raised the bar for heat intensity by surpassing the
current world record holder, the Butch T. Trinidad Scorpion," said Ed
Currie, founder of the PuckerButt Pepper Company. Analytic chemist Cliff
Calloway, Ph.D., M.S., B.A. from Winthrop University tested the
seed pods over a four-year testing period and concluded that the Smokin'
Ed's Carolina Reaper pepper averaged 1.474 million on the Scoville
Scale rating, 280 times hotter than a jalapeno.

Scoville heat index

The
Scoville Scale measures heat intensity and the number of Scoville heat
units (SHU) indicates the amounts of capsaicin present in each pepper.
Pure capsaicin has a Scoville rating of 16 million. American pharmacist
Wilber Scoville designed the test known as the Scoville Organoleptic
Test in 1912 while working for Detroit-based pharmaceutical company
Parke Davis. Originally based on human responses, today machines measure
the amount of capsaicin contained in peppers.

Health benefits of hot peppers

Peppers
have a plethora of health benefits and are well known for their supply
of fiber, vitamins A, C, K and minerals molybdenum and manganese. They
also contain a significant amount of lycopene (known to mitigate ovarian
cancer) and lutein and zeaxanthin which have been heralded for their
effects on eye disorders cataracts and macular degeneration. By far,
though, the most significant component to peppers are capsaicin, the antioxidant responsible for heat index.

Capsaicin
is colorless, flavorless, odorless, and a pepper's capsaicin level is
directly proportional to its antioxidant level. In other words, the
hotter a pepper is, the healthier it is. As people
repeatedly eat a hot pepper, the pain receptors on the tongue are
repeatedly stimulated. Consequently, that person becomes more
desensitized to its painful effect. In fact, it is purported that the
once painful stimulus becomes quite pleasurable because spicy peppers
release endorphins, the "pleasure hormone." It is believed that the
ancient Aztec and Mayan civilizations considered chili peppers an
aphrodisiac.

Even though it has been praised for its health
benefits for years, scientists have struggled to confirm capsaicin's
individual health benefits. Researchers are attempting to decode the
mystery behind the spicy component to peppers and to explain capsaicin's
known efficacy in weight loss, appetite suppression and raising body
temperature. Moreover, preliminary studies done on animals have
suggested that capsaicin can kill lung, pancreatic, and prostate cancer cells. Other proposed benefits to capsaicin include:

• Anti-inflammatory effects
• Protective effects in the liver and lungs against tissue damage
• Analgesic properties, bringing relief to various neuropathies
• Reducing pain associated with osteoarthritis

As
eating hot peppers can be challenging for the novice, see below for a
tasty recipe for a sweet, HOT salsa that will prove to provide a
healthy, spicy kick to your menu plan.

• 5-6 peaches
• 1lb cantaloupe
• 12 oz. mango
• 12 oz. strawberries
• 1 cup pineapple
• 2 limes (juiced) fresh
• 0.5 oz. fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp. honey granules or 2 tsp stevia
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 3 jalapenos *
• 3 banana peppers *
• 1 Habanero pepper *

Mix ingredient in blender and enjoy!
*Change desired hotness based on preference and always seed and core them.

Source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/036997_peppers_Scoville_heat_index_food.html