Victory Seeds -- Scoville Units Explained

The Pepper Heat Scale
Scoville Units



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Conceptually, you know that a pepper is not hot. You can touch one with your fingers and understand that it is at room temperature. However, when you pop a Scotch Bonnet into your mouth, the sensors in your oral cavity may tell your brain that you have just tasted a hot coal! (Note: Do not touch mucous membranes after touching peppers.)

Spicy peppers contain a substance called capsaicin. 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).

Devised by Wilbur Scoville in 1912, 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	Pepper Variety
	16,000,000	Pure Capsaicin
10	100,000 - 450,000	Habanero, Scotch Bonnet, Caribbean Red
9	50,000 - 100,000	Santake, Thai
8	30,000 - 50,000	Cayenne, Tabasco, Piquin
7	15,000 - 30,000	Serrano, Chile de Arbol
6	5,000 - 15,000	Yellow Wax, Serrano
5	2,500 - 5,000	Jalapeno (3,500up to 10,000), Miasol
4	1,500 - 2,500	Sandia, Cascabel
3	1,000 - 1,500	Ancho (Poblano), Pasilla, Espanola
2	500 - 1,000	Anaheim, New Mexico
1	100 - 500	Mexi-bells, Cherries
0	0 - 100	Mild Bells, Sweet Bananas, Pimento

When peppers are dehydrated, they tend to increase in "heat" by about 10 times.

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