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 How Hot is Hot?
By Eric Vinje, Cosmic Chile
"How hot is hot?" is a question that's plagued hot sauce connoisseurs for centuries.
Back in 1912, Wilbur Scoville, a chemist in the employ of the Park-Davis pharmaceutical company, answered the call for a way to measure and rate how hot peppers are by developing what is now known as the "Scoville Units" scale.
Scoville developed the "Scoville Organoleptic Test" to rate and test the heat in each and every chile pepper. In his test, Scoville ground chiles and diluted them with sugar water. Scoville kept on adding sugar water to samples until testers could no longer feel the burn. A number was then assigned to each chile pepper based on how much it needed to be diluted before the testers could no longer taste/feel the heat.
The heat factor of chile peppers is measured in multiples of 100 units. Sweet bell peppers, devoid of any "heat," are rated at zero while habaneros - the hottest of all peppers - are rated at 150,000 plus Scoville units. Keep in mind that pure capsaicin, which gives a pepper its heat, is rated at between 15,000,000 and 16,000,000 Scoville units.
Not all peppers or types of peppers are created equal when it comes to pungency. The heat associated with a particular pepper is part genetics and part "upbringing." That is, the soil and general nurturing of a pepper plant can make it milder or hotter. For that reason, most experts usually give a range for a particular type of pepper.
Below is a table of hot peppers and their Scoville units rating.
|
Chile Pepper
|
|
Heat Range
|
| Bell Pepper, Pimento |
............................
|
0 |
| Cherry |
............................
|
Up to 500 |
| Pepperoncini |
............................
|
100 to 500 |
| El Paso, Santa Fe Grande |
............................
|
500 to 750 |
| Coronado |
............................
|
700 to 1,000 |
Espanola, Poblano
Ancho, Mulato, Pasilla |
............................
|
1,000 to 2,000 |
Anaheim, Sandia,
NuMex Joe E. Parker |
............................
|
500 to 2,500 |
| Rocotillo |
............................
|
1,500 to 2,500 |
| Pulla |
............................
|
700 to 3,000 |
| Mirasol, Guajillo |
............................
|
2,500 to 5,000 |
| Jalapeno |
............................
|
2,500 to 8,000 |
| Chipolte, Hot Wax |
............................
|
5,000 to 8,000 |
| Puya |
............................
|
5,000 to 10,000 |
| Hidalgo |
............................
|
6,000 to 17,000 |
| Serrano |
............................
|
8,000 to 22,000 |
Manzano, Shipkas,
De Arbol |
............................
|
12,000 to 30,000 |
Jaloro, Aji, Tabasco,
Cayenne |
............................
|
30,000 to 50,000 |
Santaka, Super Chile,
Piquin |
............................
|
40,000 to 58,000 |
| Yatsafusa |
............................
|
50,000 to 75,000 |
| Haimen |
............................
|
70,000 to 80,000 |
| Chiltecpin |
............................
|
60,000 to 85,000 |
| Thai |
............................
|
50,000 to 100,000 |
| Tabiche |
............................
|
85,000 to 115,000 |
| Bahamian |
............................
|
95,000 to 110,000 |
| Carolina Cayenne |
............................
|
100,000 to 125,000 |
| Tabasco |
............................
|
100,000 to 150,000 |
| Kumataka |
............................
|
125,000 to150,000 |
| Jamaican Hot |
............................
|
100,000 to 200,000 |
Birds Eye, Habanero,
Scotch Bonnet |
............................
|
100,000 to 325,000 |
| Red Savina Habanero |
............................
|
350,000 to 577,000 |
| Pure Capsaicin |
............................
|
15,000,000 to 16,000,000 |
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