~7,500 BC

Capsicum fruits (hot peppers) are first documented to be part of the human diet. One of the first self-pollinating crops from Mexico to South America.

~5,000-6,000 BC

Archaeologists trace the domestications of hot peppers to somewhere in this time period. Original uses included not only cooking but also medicinal and house cleansing.

1494

One of Columbus’ physicians details the medicinal effects of hot peppers. Decides to bring peppers on maiden voyage from Spain to West India.

1868

Edmund McIlhenny creates the first widely known hot sauce from three simple ingredients: aged red peppers, salt, and distilled vinegar. Today known as Tabasco.

1912

American pharmacist, Wilbur Scoville, designs a method to measure the pungency (read this as heat) of hot peppers. We now call this the Scoville Scale.

1956

Newsweek declares the Jalapeno pepper the hottest pepper which registers around 3,500SHU (Scoville Heat Units). Little did they know…

1994

The Guinness World Records get involved in ranking the hottest pepper. The inaugural year goes to the Red Savina coming in at 675,000SHU.

2007

Welcome to the super-hots! Guinness crowns a new champion - the Ghost pepper! Wildly hot and measuring just over 1,000,000SHU. Not things are really heating up.

2011

Three different peppers were crowned this year but ultimately the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T pepper wins out. Significant gains brought this one in at 1,463,700SHU.