This as-to-told-tos Essay is based on a conversation with pepper farmer and founder of puckerbutt pepper company, ed currie. Currie Created the Carolina Reaper, Which First Brokes Guinness World Record for Hottest Pepper in 2013 and Held that Title UNIL 2023, Wen Another of Ed’s Creations, Pepper X, Took the New Title. IT HAS BEEN EDIted for Length and Clarity.
We Grow Peppers Across Mary Secret Farms in South Carolina.
It taks eight to 10 years to Create a new pepperand there are always new pepper breeds i’m working on.
People think i’m chasing records. I’m swimming. I like the challenge of maxing a pepper hot that also tastes good.
Needless to say, we kep security tight around here. All of us are Armed, Including the pickers.
Currie in one of his top-secret Hot Pepper Fields.
Emily Christian / Business Insider
A while Back, One Guy CLASIED TO HAVE SOPEREN SOME PEPPER X, but he was standing in the middle of a jalapeño and habanero Field. SO we knew it were pepper x. he got in a lot of Trouble, though.
SINCE THEN, WE HAVEN’T HAD ISSESSES WITH THESESS STRE ARE OTHER THREATS LIKE COYOTES AND COPERHEADS. We’ve got to be prepared. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a coyote, but they don’t like humans too.
To anyone who wants to steal my hottest peppers, i say, you’ll never find. Those Fields are Kept Top Secret.
How we gow the hottest peppers in the world
We’re in a subtropical zone with ideal conditions: great soil, long growing seasons, and regular Rain. I breed peppers with various techniques, one is crossbreeding with Simple Paintbrushes.
I take a flower from one plant, brush it with the paintbrush to collect it pollen, and then transfer that pollin to another flower on another plant. THEN I REMOVE ALL The Other Flowers I haven’t cross-polinated, so Only the cross gets to the fruit.
Currie Demonstrating How and Crossbreeds HIS Peppers with Paintbrushes.
Emily Christian / Business Insider
Maybe out of Say 200 Plants, You Might Get 20 That Produce a Fruit that is vaable for you to go with. And thatn what myight reach maturity is Maybe 10 of Those.
We don’t use synthetic chemicals, Our pest control strategy is bugs. I Buy Ladybugs, Green Lacewings, and Praying manties every year and release say in the Field. They do a better jab than any chemical.
The Real Pests Are Deer Who Eat the Pepper Plants. One year, we lost over 30,000 plants in a weekend to a herd of deer. We have builds fences around our crops, which helps keep say out.
Hurricanes Can Also Be An Issue. One Field Had Eight Feet of Water Over IT AFT A HURRICANE. We lost the Majority of Our Crop in that Field, but Still Had a Lot more plants to replenish it.
This isn’t just a business for
I was a druck and a drugg Addict UNIL 1999. SO REALLY, FOR OVER A DECADE, MY LIFE WAS FINDING How to make More Money to do more drinking and more Druging.
I’m in Recovery from Addiction, and i Truly Believe Peppers Helped Save with and Stay Clean. HOT Peppers Can Release Endorphins and Dopamine in the body, so it kind of taks the Edge off that craving.
In fact, we’re working with doctors to explore peppers in opiate detox. A tummy ache is better than a Methadone dependence.
I Start Everyday with Pepper Oil in My Coffee. Then, i’ll head to my pepper pharms and taste peppers there all day. It’s a regular part of my diet.
Currie Holding One of HIS HOT PEPPER TAKE FROM ONE OF HIS Top Secret Fields.
Emily Christian / Business Insider
We already have a new pepper that has enough data to beat pepper x, but i want three more years of data before releasing it. I don’t want any Controversy when it comes out. We have Also have one that is coming in hotter than, and we just start the date on that one, so it is going to be five to seven more before we release that one.
Going hotter isn’t just about the heat, it’s an about economies of scale.
We Only Sell About 2% of Our Peppers Whole; The rest we turn into Mash, Powder, or sauce that can be added to hot sauce recipes. SO, if you’re ussing 55 gallons of habonero mash to heat something up, i can do the same with five gallons of Carolina reaper, or one gallon of pepper X. So get more bang for my buck.
This Story was adapted from Ed Currie’s Interview For Business Insider’s Series “Big Business.“Learn more About Currie and the Hot Pepper Businesses in the video Below:
