Cayenne peppers are a bit hotter than habanero peppers.
Habanero peppers, which are native to Central and South America and the Caribbean, hold the title for hottest commercially-grown pepper, which means they also contain the most capsaicin.
Since it's much spicier than cayenne, habanero is best mixed with creamy ingredients or fat to mute the heat.
The pepper that is hotter than a habanero is the ghost pepper.
The habanero is a very hot pepper with a Scoville heat rating ranging from 100,000 – 350,000.
The ghost pepper (also known as Bhut Jolokia) is significantly hotter at 855,000 to 1,041, 427 Scoville heat units.
Cayenne is the main pepper in Frank's Red Hot. Still a bit hotter these peppers are about 10-15 times hotter than the Jalapeno and rate between 30,000-50,000 SHUs.
Don't get the Orange color of the Habaneros confused with a carrot because you'll be quite surprised.
Habaneros go up to 350,000 Scoville units.
The hottest pepper is the Carolina Reaper.
The Carolina Reaper is a cultivar of the Capsicum chinense plant.
Developed by US breeder Ed Currie, the pepper is red and gnarled, with a bumpy texture and small pointed tail.
Other hottest peppers include.
Carolina Reaper 2,200,000 SHU.
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion 2,009,231 SHU.
7 Pot Douglah 1,853,936 SHU.
7 Pot Primo 1,469,000 SHU.
Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T” 1,463,700 SHU.
Naga Viper 1,349,000 SHU.
Ghost Pepper (Bhut Jolokia) 1,041,427 SHU.
7 Pot Barrackpore ~1,000,000 SHU.
Hot peppers cannot and won't kill you.
Even though you may feel like you're dying, hot peppers won't kill you or cause any lasting damage to the body.
Can you hurt yourself eating hot peppers or chilli peppers?
Many of us love the burning sensation from hot chillies and hot peppers.
And hot-hunters are safe in the knowledge that although capsaicin, the spicy molecule in hot peppers, is activating receptors in pain neurons in their mouths, it's not really causing any damage.
Chilli peppers and hot peppers hold promise of preventing liver damage and progression.
Summary: New research shows that the daily consumption of capsaicin, the active compound of chilli peppers, was found to have beneficial effects on liver damage.
And the Dragon's Breath chile, now the world's spiciest pepper, clocks in at a hellish 2.48 million on the Scoville scale, dwarfing its nearest competitor, the Carolina Reaper, which comes in at 2.2 million.
(For reference, military-grade pepper spray comes in at a casual 2 million.)