The Red Savina pepper is a cultivar of the habanero chili (Capsicum chinense Jacquin), which has been selectively bred to produce hotter, heavier, and larger fruit.
Frank Garcia of GNS Spices, in Walnut, California, is credited with being the developer of the Red Savina habanero. The exact method Garcia used to select the hottest strains is not publicly known.
The Red Savina was protected by the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Act until 2011.
In February 2007, the Red Savina chili was displaced in Guinness World Records as the hottest chili in the world by the Naga Jolokia pepper. The Red Savina held the record from 1994 until 2006.
Samples of the Red Savina pepper have measured as high as 580,000 Scoville units, about twice the heat of the habanero pepper and 65 times the heat of a jalapeno pepper.
The Scoville unit, named after its inventor, chemist William Scoville is used to measure the hotness of peppers. The Scoville test was devised in 1912, and is still the most accurate and detailed way to measure the pungency of peppers, including the Red Savina pepper.
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