The clock just passed 3 in the morning…

I’m thinking to myself that this might be the last few hours that I have left, crawling like a zombie to my parents’ bedroom. I’m sweating bullets, fetal position engaged. My dad is a doctor; he’ll know what to do! Negative, all that could have been done was weather the storm. This was going to be a looong night…

Now you may wonder how the heck I got here. Don’t worry, I will tell you – but first, I need to tell you about a successful banker from South Carolina.

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This story begins with this high paid banker in South Carolina, “Smoking Ed” Ed Currie. Currie enjoyed growing peppers in his backyard. Growing everything from jalapenos to really spicy peppers. It was something he enjoyed and did in his spare time, there was, however, one problem: For Ed – nothing was ever strong enough. Experimenting with many different cross-breeding techniques, he never produced anything that exceeded the spice limit of the peppers he already owned. Ed lost his hope after several years of failed attempts and stopped trying vigorously to produce something new and spicy.

Ed was on a working trip in India, when he one day encountered a scientist at the local restaurant. The Indian man wanted some advice on US bonds, and Ed helpfully gave the man some of his best advice. In exchange of Ed’s help, he received a pepper from the Indian scientist.

• “Well, this was the crappiest payment I have ever received”, Ed said to himself, and didn’t know yet that this pepper would be worth a ton of fame and money years later.

By cross-breading the Indian pepper, with a pepper Ed got from his friend at work, something magically happened – and with not knowing the strength of the new pepper, he put three peppers in the dinner soup that day, ready to be served for his loved one. When his wife passed out later that night, and Ed himself struggled to stand straight, he knew that this was something out of the ordinary. It was after this night that Ed new he had to quit his job, and start working on growing peppers for a living.

Years later, Ed Currie and his company Puckerbutt pepper company (named because an old lady said to Ed that his peppers makes her butt pucker) named the pepper he accidentally had created the Carolina Reaper. The pepper officially took the record for world’s hottest pepper by the Guinness book of world records in 2017, and clocks in at a whopping 2 million Scoville heat units – that’s 400 times hotter than the jalapenos you get on your pizza, and about 350 times hotter than tabasco!

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Being a curious person can sometimes be painful – at least in this case. When reading online about the hottest pepper that has ever existed, my fingers automatically reached for the “shop” icon on the screen, and clicked home a couple of seeds not knowing what’s to come.

For about half a year, I put sweat and tears into the growing plant about to produce cute little red Carolina Reapers. Whenever I left home for more than three days, someone in my family was put on pepper-duty, with the order to guard the plant with their heart and soul, and of course also to water it regularly.

Summer past, and there they were there. Golf ball sized, red peppers just waiting to be eaten. I mean… How could I not at least try one of the many peppers that I for so long had taken care of and looked over?

So, I did. It was a Saturday evening, I had just had pizza with a couple of friends, and with a clever smile on my face, I reached for my bag and pulled up a handful of Carolina Reapers. Nobody had the courage to take one, except for one friend of mine, and myself. About eight a clock we swallowed one pepper each, and instantly the world transformed from a chilly dark evening, to a burning ring of fire. Water, milk, bread, ice-cream…you name it – we tried it all, and nothing seemed to work. About an hour later, the worst pain was over. We laughed about it, and started watching a movie. Obviously, my body was still in pain, although at this state of time, everything was manageable and under control.

Later the same night, after a car ride home, I was lying in my bed feeling proud and satisfied with finally having tried the pepper that I worked so hard for. At 12 a clock, all the pain had faded away, and a good night sleep was to come – at least, that’s what I thought…