Hottest Peppers in the World, Ranked by Heat in Scovilles

How to read these numbers

Ranked on the heat figure for each variety: the top of its SHU range, or the one number on file. Capsaicin content swings with the seed line, the soil, the weather and where on the plant a pod grew, and two labs testing the same harvest can return different numbers. Very few of these varieties have ever been through a certified test; most figures trace to a breeder or a seed seller rather than a laboratory.

No warranty. WikiPepper publishes these figures as reported and warranties none of them. Treat a Scoville number as a claim about one harvest, not a property of the variety, and do not rely on it for anything that matters.

A rank marked = is shared: those varieties hold the same heat figure, usually because one breeder’s published number was applied across a family, so their order on the page carries no meaning. 1,064 varieties have no Scoville figure recorded at all and are not ranked; they still appear in the database. Spotted a figure you can source? Tell us.