Back in 1912 a chemist by the name of Wilbur Scoville decided to create a method that could be used to "measure" how hot a pepper is. In his method, capsaicin was extracted with alcohol and the solution was diluted with sugar water. The dilutions were made in factors of 10, then given to a panel of human tasters. They started tasting with the least concentrated solution and worked their way up. When the testers first encountered the trademark bite of chile peppers, the first scoville unit was assigned. This original method made the scale a somewhat subjective measure, later the process was refined with the use of HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography.) In short HPLC measures the actual amount of capsaicin that the pepper contains in parts per million. Despite the fact that the actual measurement of the scale has changed the name was kept to honor the originator.
Bell peppers, sweet italian peppers
|
0 |
Ancho |
1,000 |
Anaheim |
1,200 |
Poblano |
2,000-3,000 |
Jalapeno |
3,000-5,000 |
Chipotle |
10,000 |
Serrano |
16,000 |
Cayenne |
35,000 |
Tabasco |
40,000 |
Thai, Pequin, Chiltepin |
50,000-75,000 |
Scotch Bonnet |
100,000-200,000 |
Habanero |
100,000-300,000 |
