chili-peppersheat
I often hear different points of view to this question – some say the hottest part of the chili is its seeds, yet I've heard some (arguably more believable) sources claim that the white part that holds the seeds to the flesh is the hottest.
What part of the chili fruit is the hottest?
In Indian cooking we usually add Ghee (Clarified butter) to reduce the heat of a chili pepper. Most Indian dishes, we would add a good heaping spoon of ghee before feeding little ones. This helps temper the heat but keeps the flavors alive so that the children get used to them and can gradually learn to eat hotter foods.
The world record holder is currently the Carolina Reaper according to Guinness (as of AUG 2013).
This pepper began its family tree as a crossbreed between a Ghost Chili pepper and a Red Habanero.
The LA Times reports that the hottest Reaper has been clocked at 2.2 Million Scoville units. That's higher than some commercial pepper spray products. They go on to cite a study conducted by Winthrop University (South Carolina, US) that claims the average is closer to 1.5 M.
There is a hotter pepper contending for the throne. "Pepper X" (a codename pending a permanent name) is now supposedly clocking in over 3M but is pending Guinness verification.
What a time to be alive.
Best Answer
The Wikipedia article on
Capsicumreads, citing a FAQ on a page of the ollege of Agriculture and Home Economics of the New Mexico State University:Cisneros-Pineda et al. measured via gas chromatography the content of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin in the pericarp, placenta, and seeds of seven cultivars of chili peppers and the results confirm this:
For dihydrocapsaicin, the difference is not so large, but the placenta still has a higher concentration.
In terms of concentration considering fresh mass the difference won't be as dramatic because while the seeds lose around half their mass by drying, the placenta will lose 90%.