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A scale developed by Wilbur Scoville in 1912, to measure the heat level in
chilies. It was first a subjective taste test, but since, it has been
refined by the use of HPLC, the unit is named in honour of its inventor.
|
Pepper |
SHU |
|
Bell/Sweet
peppers |
0 |
|
Pepperoncini |
100-500 |
|
New Mexican |
500-1,000 |
|
Ancho & Pasilla |
1,000-2,000 |
|
Cascabel & Cherry |
1,000-2,500 |
|
Jalapeno |
2,500-5,000 |
|
Serrano |
5,000-15,000 |
|
De Arbol |
15,000-30,000 |
|
Cayenne and
Tabasco |
30,000-50,000 |
|
Chiltepin |
50,000-100,000 |
|
Scotch Bonnet &
Thai |
100,000-350,000 |
|
Habanero |
200,000-350,000 |
|
Red Savina |
577,000 |
|
Bih Jolokia, Naga
Morich |
1,041,427 |
|
Pure Capsaicin |
16,000,000 |
*The hottest pepper recorded was a Red
Savina Habenero. Pure Capsaicin measures 15,000,000 Scoville units.
The original Scoville test asked a
panel of tasters to state when an increasingly dilute solution of the
pepper no longer burned the mouth. Roughly one part per million of chili
'heat' rates as 1.5 Scoville units.
The test officially
measures the pungency level of a given pepper. There are other methods,
but the Scoville Scale remains the most widely used and respected. The
greater the number of Scoville units, the hotter the pepper. Of course,
being a natural product, the heat can vary from pepper to pepper, so this
scale is just a guide.
The Scoville Scale is
purely subjective and not very scientific.
High-Performance Liquid
Chromatography
The most accurate method for
measuring pungency in chilis is a High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
In this procedure, chili pods are dried, then ground. Next, the chemicals
responsible for the pungency are extracted, and the extract is injected
into the HPLC device for analysis. This method is more costly than the
Scoville test or the Taste test but much more accurate. This method
measures the total heat present as well as the individual capsaicinoids
present.
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