The world's hottest pepper was delicious, according to its designer, Pepper X

 The world's hottest pepper was delicious, according to its designer, Pepper X

Ed Currie lives, breathes, and only eats peppers. He refers to it as his "obsession".

He begins "every morning with what is essentially pepper oil" in his coffee.

He will add peppers or spicy sauce to his meal after spending the whole day tasting peppers and hot sauces for his South Carolina firm, PuckerButt Pepper firm. Although not one of his own inventions, his favorite pepper to use in cooking is a chocolate scotch bonnet.

"I eat peppers all day long," he claims. "If there's the right kind of dessert around, I want to put something hot on my dessert."

Even as a seasoned pepper expert, eating Pepper X, which Guinness World Records named the hottest pepper this week, had him "literally bent over groaning in pain" for three to four hours.

"When I had a full one, the flavor was immediately apparent. But right away, the heat sets in, and I found it intolerable.

According to him, it resembled an out-of-body experience.

It felt quite exhilarating, he said. "Because I was getting an endorphin rush."

He was given a milkshake to help with the discomfort, but "that only made the heat increase." And for about an hour, the temperature increased.

My body began to cramp, and as you may know, your body views capsaicin as a poison.

The ingredient in peppers that causes the burning sensation in people is called capsaicin.

"Those cramps are so bad, for a male at least, that they are intolerable. I was told by a doctor that it was comparable to a menstruation cramp.

Interestingly, he went out to dinner and ordered more peppers after spending a few hours recuperating "because as my wife can tell you, I'm just an idiot."

He can, however, give Linda, his wife, credit for starting the business.

After overcoming "a long history of drug and alcohol addiction," he met Linda, who initially had little interest in dating him.

But, he adds, "I heard she liked salsa." "So I whipped up some salsa for a dinner I would be going to that I knew she'd be at and she requested who made the salsa."

They were married nine months later.

Before his firm was established, the 1,100 pepper and tomato plants in their garden had grown to 30,000 plants.

"That's not a hobby - that's an obsession," he states.

After they began offering the spicy sauces he had prepared to acquaintances, it was his wife who saw the potential for a business. Twenty years later, the business is one of the US's top producers of spicy sauces.

A PuckerButt Pepper Company employee named Tom calls in on the phone at one point during the BBC interview to discuss working with his employer.

"This is something that most of worldwide doesn't know about Ed - but I suppose his true goal in life is to help people."

"(Ed) admitted to being an addict. 90% of us—including myself—are in recovery, and he employs us. He has given us opportunities we wouldn't have otherwise had, he remarked.

In order to help him get back on his feet, Tom claims Mr. Currie allowed him to live with him, his wife, and kids for six months.

"And now I'm paying a mortgage," he adds. "I think his passion is in hot peppers - he enjoys to hurt people, but I think his true love is helping people."