Scoville Units
We
enjoy peppers, an acquired taste! The hotter the better although
there is a limit. We grow all sort of peppers and use them on all
of our cooking. During the winter, we actually use the dried
peppers from the previous summer!
Spicy peppers contain a substance called capsaicin.
Capsaicin
is found mainly in the interior tissue to which the seeds adhere. This is what makes
them taste hot.
Concentrated in the veins of the fruit,
the compound stimulates your nerve endings making your brain
"think" that you are in pain.
The brain responds by releasing
substances called endorphins (like distance runners experience),
which are similar in structure to morphine.
A mild euphoria
results making peppers mildly addictive because of this hot
pepper "high".
Ask any pepper-head (and you don't have to run
20 miles).
Capsaicin is a colorless, crystalline,
bitter compound present in capsicum [Previously referred to
as capsicine]. It has a molecular weight of 305.46. Capsaicin
has a Melting Point of 65�C, Boiling Point of 81�C, Vapor Pressure
of 40 and a Vapor Density of 1.59 (Air=1). The range in capsaicin
content in the pericarp of an average capsicum is about 0.17%
to 0.58% and the inner sheath is 6.6% to 7.7%; color is concentrated
mostly in the pericarp. Chili seeds contain 19% oil with 0.024%
capsaicin content. The percentage of capsaicin in the capsicum
plant depends on the species, geographical origin and the climatic
conditions.
Capsaicin is produced by glands at
the juncture of the placenta and the pod wall. The capsaicin
spreads unevenly throughout the inside of the pod and is concentrated
mostly in the placental tissue.
The seeds are not sources of
heat, as commonly believed. From one Kg. of cayenne pepper for
example, approximately 2.13 g. of crude capsaicin can be isolated,
which is about 20 times the amount found in paprika.
A Scoville Unit is a measurement of capsaicin level in a particular pepper or variety. Although peppers can vary from pod to pod, plant to plant, variety to variety, and even season to season, listed below is an approximate scale for several varieties of peppers:
Scoville Units: Includes
0-100: Bell/Sweet
500-1000: New Mexican
1,000-1,500: Espanola - Sandia
1,000-2,000: Ancho & Pasilla
1,000-2,500: Cascabel & Cherry & MiraSol (Pueblo)
2,500-5,000: Jalapeno
5,000-15,000: Serrano
15,000-30,000: de Arbol & MiraSol Extra Hot, Barker
30,000-50,000" Cayenne, Tabasco
50,000-100,00: Chiltepin
100,000-200,000: Scotch Bonnet & Thai (Locally called Dynamite)
200,000 to 300,000: Habanero
575,000: Red Savina" Habanero
Around 16,000,000: Pure Capsaicin.
*The "Red Savina" Habanero has been tested at over 577,000 Scoville
units! This is so much hotter than the normal Habanero chile
pepper, that the "Guinness Book of Records" have accepted it
as "the hottest chile pepper" in the world. Even now, breeders
are attempting to beat this. The new Francisca Habanero is said
to be hotter still!
* Courtesy of Patrick Sprague