Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, 1.2–2 Million SHU

How hot is a Trinidad Moruga Scorpion?

In New Mexico State University's 2012 field study it averaged more than 1.2 million Scoville heat units, the highest mean of the five superhots tested, and two single plants passed 2 million¹. The index shows you that spread, 1.2 to 2 million SHU, because both ends come from the same trial.

That mean is roughly 240 times an average jalapeño at about 5,000 SHU⁴. The 2-million plants matter more in the kitchen: NMSU put them at almost twice an average Bhut Jolokia¹, and you can't tell from the outside which pod you're holding.

Read the mean as what your typical pod does and the 2 million as what one plant in a field can do. The UF/IFAS and UWI numbers sit inside or near that top end, but neither says how anyone measured it, so we keep them out of the range.

How did NMSU test it?

If you wonder why we trust this number, the Chile Pepper Institute grew each superhot in one research field under standard southern New Mexico practice, then dried and ground randomly picked mature fruit from several plants and extracted the capsaicinoids¹. That design is why its mean carries more weight than any single record pod.

How did it rank against the other superhots NMSU grew?

It came first of five, but not by much, and you can see how close the field was. All five grew in the same New Mexico field, so the means compare like for like¹:

The gap from first to last is under 200,000 SHU, less than the spread you'd find between two Moruga plants. The same release notes that chiles of one variety often vary in heat even in one field or on one plant¹, so the ranking tells you about the variety, not about the pod in your hand.

Was it ever the world's hottest pepper?

It held NMSU's title, not the Guinness one, and you'll see both claims repeated online. NMSU named it the hottest pepper on the planet in February 2012 on the strength of its mean¹. Guinness, in its 2013 Carolina Reaper announcement, names the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T as the record holder before the Reaper⁹.

1. March 2011

   Trinidad Scorpion Butch T

   Rated at 1,463,700 SHU and listed by Guinness as the record holder.⁹

2. February 2012

   Trinidad Moruga Scorpion

   NMSU's Chile Pepper Institute names it the hottest pepper it has measured, at a mean above 1.2 million SHU.¹

3. September 2012

   UWI article

   A UWI researcher reports a 2,009,231 SHU record for the Moruga Scorpion, describing it as a Guinness World Record.³

4. November 2013

   Carolina Reaper

   Guinness confirms the Reaper as the new record, replacing the Butch T.⁹

The full run of record holders, Pepper X included, sits in the timeline on the superhot peppers page.

You'll find the head-to-head with the pepper that took the record next in the Moruga Scorpion against the Carolina Reaper.

Bill Moore's Hot & Spicy Reviews posted this 2013 pod review with Jim Duffy of Refining Fire Chiles, so you can see what a Moruga pod looks like up close, and remember that its "world's hottest" label dates from the year it was made, since the record has changed hands since.

Play video: "Trinidad Moruga Scorpion" (World's Hottest Pepper) Review from Jim Duffy of Refining Fire Chiles 11:07

"Trinidad Moruga Scorpion" (World's Hottest Pepper) Review from Jim Duffy of Refining Fire Chiles

From Bill Moore's Hot & Spicy Reviews

VideoPlays from YouTube when you press play.Watch on YouTube

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Where does the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion come from?

From Trinidad, and the name tells you so. A UWI article from St. Augustine counts the Moruga Scorpion among the Trinidad peppers that made world news, and its researchers describe the island's Capsicum chinense peppers as native to the Caribbean and northern South America³.

The same team's DNA work traces those peppers back to an Upper Amazon gene pool, with one likely route running from the Amazon basin through the Guianas into Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago³. The genus monograph cites that work: Caribbean C. chinense probably came from Upper Amazon progenitors and diverged through isolation⁶. The Caribbean peppers hub puts the Moruga beside its island neighbors.

What species is it?

Capsicum chinense, the habanero's species. The University of Guam's species table files scorpion types under C. chinense², and UWI calls Trinidad's local peppers by the same name³.

You can check a pod yourself in your kitchen. The genus monograph names a ring-shaped narrowing where the cap meets the stem as the key mark of C. chinense⁶, the same ring you'd find on a Scotch bonnet.

Which scorpion types and colors are there?

The seed lists you'll browse also sell yellow and chocolate Moruga Scorpions and lines with names such as Cardi and Kraken. We found no primary source for any of those lines, so they sit here as rows without numbers. The two scorpion relatives below do have measured figures.

The Trinidad Scorpion Butch T gets its own entry, because Guinness published its figure.

What does a Trinidad Moruga Scorpion taste like?

The UC Master Gardeners of Ventura County describe Trinidad Scorpion peppers as fruity, slightly sweet and citrus-like¹¹. That's the C. chinense family flavor you know from a habanero, and we found no separate description for the Moruga line.

In your kitchen the fruit shows up only when you use a tiny amount. A sliver in a large pot of stew or a drop of sauce lets you taste it; a whole pod in one bowl turns every bite into heat.

What happens if you eat a whole one?

Your body treats it as a burn and, at a big enough dose, as something to get rid of. Capsaicin opens the same receptor on your nerves that fires at painfully high temperatures¹², and Poison Control lists nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea after too much hot pepper¹³.

We found no case report for the Moruga itself. The closest is the Carolina Reaper, a pepper in the same heat class: a 34-year-old man who ate one in a contest had dry heaves, then sudden, crushing headaches, and scans showed narrowed arteries in his brain that had cleared five weeks later¹⁴.

For an ordinary burn, milk works best. In a Penn State test of seven drinks, whole and skim milk cut the burn the most¹⁵.

How do you handle it safely?

The same way you'd handle a ghost pepper, only with less margin for a slip. The National Capital Poison Center gives these steps¹³:

Should you cook with it, and how?

Only if you want heat as the point of your dish. A Moruga's mean runs about four times a habanero's top figure, 1.2 million against 350,000 SHU¹⁴, so it rarely improves a recipe that a habanero already handles. Where it earns its place:

• A superhot sauce: blend one seeded pod into a full batch with fruit, vinegar and salt, then taste a drop on a cracker before you add a second.
• A pot of chili or curry for a crowd that asks for it: drop in a quarter of a pod, simmer, and remove it before serving.
• Dried and ground: a pinch of powder seasons a whole dish, and you can measure it far more precisely than a fresh pod.

Wear gloves for all three, and open a window: Poison Control warns that capsaicin in the air can trigger asthma in people prone to it¹³.

Can you grow a Moruga Scorpion?

Yes, if you can give it a long, warm season. No extension source we read gives days to harvest for the Moruga itself, but University of Maryland Extension puts habanero types, the same species, at 90 to 120 days from transplanting, against 70 to 85 for most peppers¹⁶. The University of Guam's guide says hot peppers grow best with days of 75 to 85°F and nights of 50 to 60°F, and that they live as perennials in the tropics².

In a short-summer garden, start your seeds early indoors and plan on a pot you can move. Wear gloves when you pick: the pods are hot enough that juice from a split one stings bare skin.

What do people make with it?

Mostly hot sauce, which is also the safest way for you to taste one. NMSU's 2012 announcement mentions a commercial sauce made from the Moruga Scorpion within months of the study¹, and the hottest hot sauces list shows where superhot bottles land.

For the head-to-head with a better-known superhot, the Moruga Scorpion against the ghost pepper lines up both studies' numbers. If you want pods of your own, the Moruga Scorpion growing guide covers raising one from seed.