According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the hottest peppers in the world are the Carolina Reaper¹ peppers grown in South Carolina by Ed Currie of PuckerButt Pepper Co.

根据吉尼斯世界纪录的认证，世界上最辣的辣椒是美国南卡罗来纳州的男子艾德-柯里种植的“卡罗来纳死神”。

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.

柯里花了四年多的时间，和温斯洛普大学的学生们一起合作，改良了一种来自加勒比海的甜辣椒。在温斯洛普大学进行的测试中，“卡罗来纳死神” 的平均辣度为惊人的160万度（以史高维尔辣度单位来衡量）。让大家有个辣度概念：正常的墨西哥辣椒约5000度。

The previous record holder², the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion³ 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”的纪录保持者是千里达魔蝎椒，根据新墨西哥州立大学辣椒研究所的测量，千里达魔鬼毒蝎椒的平均辣度为120多万。

Those are just the averages… The hottest batch⁴ of Currie's peppers, code named HP22B clocked in at 2.2 million on the Scoville scale.

不过这也只是平均水平。卡罗来纳死神中有一批代号为HP22B的辣椒的辣度高达220万度。

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辣椒网站上出售卡罗来纳死神辣椒的种子和辣椒酱。他给这些产品命名为“我猜你没那么傻”和“炼狱”，就是想跟潜在顾客说清楚：他可没在开玩笑。

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

他还给出了一个警告提示，提醒大家在决定买辣椒酱之前要三思而后行：

“After touching⁵ or handling hot peppers always remember to wash your hands with a product containing acidity⁶ 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.”

“在碰了我们的卡罗来纳死神后，一定记得要用酸性产品（比方说柠檬或柠檬汁）洗手。我们的辣椒真的非常非常辣，如果没有妥当处理，会对皮肤组织造成暂时伤害。在跟其他人分享让他们尝我们的辣椒时，也记得让他们小心品尝。”