Burning your precious tongue can be an easy task if you cook with any of these hot peppers! The Scoville scale is a measurement of spiciness of chili peppers and other substances, recorded in Scoville heat units (SHU). It is based on the concentration of capsaicinoids, among which capsaicin is the predominant component. The hottest peppers, according to the Scoville scale: 1. Pepper X: 2,693,000 SHU 2. Carolina Reaper: 2,200,000 SHU 3. Trinidad Moruga Scorpion: 2,009,231 SHU 4. 7 Pot Douglah: 1,