Garden Corner - Pepper - Scoville Units

Chili pepper heat is measured in Scoville Units.

Developed by Wilbur Scoville in 1912, Scoville Units measure chili pepper heat in multiples of 100, with the bell peppers at 0 and the habanero at over 300,000 Scoville Units.

Measuring The Heat...........

The Scoville Unit rating of a pepper was determined by a dilution taste test.

First, pure ground chili peppers were blended with a sugar-water solution.

Then a panel of testers sips the mixture in increasingly diluted concentrations until it no longer burns the mouth.

The Scoville Unit number was based on how much the ground chili needed to be diluted before no heat was detected.

And that's how they used to measured the heat of peppers.

These days, liquid chromatography, rather than Scoville's dilution taste test, is used to evaluate the heat of chili peppers.

Just How Hot is Hot?
Here a few examples of Pepper Scoville Units...

Pepper Type

Sweet Bell Pepper
Pasilla Bajio
Anaheim
Ancho/Poblano
Jalapeno
Serrano
Cayenne
Tabasco
Chile Pequin
Thai Dragon
Habanero
Red Savina Habanero
Pure Capsaicin

Scoville Units

0 - 100
100 - 250
800 - 1,400
1,250 - 2,500
4,00 - 6,000
10,000 - 25,000
25,000 - 55,000
30,000 - 60,000
40,000 - 70,000
75,000 - 150,000
1000,000 - 325,000
225,000 - 570,000
16,000,000

Fun Facts:

The substance that makes a chili hot is called capsaicin.

Pure capsaicin comes in at over 16 million Scoville Units!

Capsaicin is found in its highest concentrations (about 80% of the total amount) in the ribs of the pepper, and because of their proximity, the seeds are also highly concentrated.

Removing the ribs and seeds will reduce the heat of the chili pepper.

Capsaicin is also distributed in smaller amounts throughout the flesh of the chili pepper, and because it's distributed unevenly it's common for some areas of a pepper to be hotter than others.