How Do We Measure Chili Pepper Heat Levels?
SCOVILLE HEAT SCALE
WE USE THE
The Scoville Scale was named for scientist Wilbur Scoville in 1912.
Scoville worked for a pharmaceutical company named Parke-Davis where he developed a test called the “Scoville Organoleptic Test” which is used to measure a chili pepper’s pungency and heat.
It can also measure the heat levels of spicy foods, like hot sauce
Originally, Scoville ground up peppers and mixed them with sugar water, then tested them with a panel of tasters who sipped from these solutions.
Today, testing chili pepper heat has been replaced by High Performance Liquid Chromatography, or HPLC, which measures the pepper’s heat producing chemicals and rates them in ASTA pungency units.
Pure capsaicin, the stuff that makes chili peppers hot, is rated between 15 – 16,000,000 Scoville heat units.
HERE ARE THE HEAT LEVELS OF SOME OF THE MOST COMMON PEPPERS
BELL PEPPERS
0 SCOVILLE HEAT UNITS
POBLANO PEPPERS
1,000-2,000 SCOVILLE HEAT UNITS
JALAPENO PEPPERS
2,500 - 8,000 SCOVILLE HEAT UNITS
SERRANO PEPPERS
10,000 - 23,000 SCOVILLE HEAT UNITS
HABANERO PEPPERS
100,000 - 350,000 SCOVILLE HEAT UNITS
GHOST PEPPERS
1,000,000+ SCOVILLE HEAT UNITS
CAROLINA REAPER
2,000,000+ SCOVILLE HEAT UNITS