One Hell of a Scoop: Painfully Spicy Ice Cream Served in Scotland

They call it Respiro del Diavolo, or “Devil’s Breath.” This painfully spicy ice cream blended at Aldwych Cafe and Ice Cream Parlor in Glasgow, Scotland may be too hot to handle.

According to Atlas Obscura, the spicy ice cream blend is a secret family recipe from Italy made from a mix of hot chilies, one of which being the Carolina Reaper.

In case the name of such a chili pepper wasn't intimidating enough, the Carolina Reaper was named the hottest chili in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2013. To measure the spiciness of these peppers, they're ranked on the Scoville scale, which measures the pungency of chili peppers based on their capsaicin concentration. Collectively, these capsaicin are called capsaicinoids and are often one of the many contributing factors to a chili pepper's heat.

So how hot is the Carolina Reaper pepper on the Scoville scale? On average, a torturous 1,569,300 SHU (Scoville heat units). For comparison, the humble Jalepeño pepper ranks between 2,500 to 10,000 SHU.

That, undeniably, makes Aldwych's "Devil's Breath" the spiciest frozen treat in the world -- with some even dubbing it the "world's most dangerous ice cream."

In fact, according to The New York Times, this ice cream is so spicy that in order to try a scoop, customers must be over the age of 18 and sign a waiver that frees Aldwych of any responsibility for “personal injury, illness, and possible loss of life.”

Loss of life!

The folks at Aldwych suggest that any brave soul willing to try this spicy treat essentially bring a designated driver to help them home afterward.

Could you handle the heat?