Are You Smoking Again Or Just Eating Peppers? How Can Something So Pretty Be so Hot? Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick? Say that five times real fast without messing up! Everyone remembers this little tongue-twister from their childhood. Don't they? Peppers have been a part of our culture for centuries, ever since the early explorers carried seeds of native peppers back to the "old world" in 1492. In their original climate, they were perennial where they grew as large as large shrubs or small trees. The peppers of today probably bear little resemblance to these early peppers which were probably not for the "faint of heart" However, the popularity of peppers (both hot peppers and sweet peppers) has continued to grow, evolve and become more and more popular with each passing generation. Today, peppers come in a rainbow of colors and a range of tastes that span from bold and robust to mild and sweet to very complex in their makeup. Look at some the names like "Tango", "Pretty Purple", "Gentle Giant", "Bell Boy" and "Blushing Beauty and one might envision peppers with a sweet, lively and perhaps subtle flavors that are easy on the palette. And then looking further, you run across "Volcano", "Medusa", "Tabasco", "Holy Mole", "Inferno". Yikes! As you envision fire, pain and torture you wonder - What's up with those? The answer is "Capsaicin", an odorless, colorless, oil soluble compound produced by the pepper plant which is located on the crosswalls of the pepper fruit. When eaten, the mouth perceives capsaicin as an irritant and causes the sensation of burning. The scientific designation for capsaicin is C18H27NO3 or 8-Methyl-N-vanillyl-trans-6-nonenamide or N-(4-Hydroxy-3-methoxybenzyl)-8-methylnon-6-enamide, trans-8-Methyl-N-vanillylnon -6-enamide. OK - perhaps you can understand any of the before mentioned gibberish, but it's over this ole hillbilly's head. All that matters is it burns like liquid fire if I eat one. But now, as anyone who has enjoyed peppers knows, not all peppers are created equal in their ability to create havoc in one's mouth and if today is indication, there must have been some serious and rather heated debate in earlier days over which one was the hottest. It wasn't until 1912, when a chemist by the name of Wilbur Scoville, working for the Parke-Davis pharmaceutical company, developed a method to measure the heat level of chile peppers and thus, at least lowered the level of the "hottest pepper" debate. The "Scoville Organoleptic Test" or simple Scoville Heat Test, which is, you guessed it, named after him, assigned a specific heat value to many peppers and is expressed as the "Scoville Heat Rating". However, Scoville ratings may vary considerably within a species—easily by a factor of 10 or more—depending on seed lineage, climate and even soil and is especially true of habaneras'. The test for assigning a heat value to a pepper is a subjective dilution-taste procedure. In the original test, Wilbur blended pure ground Chiles with sugar-water and a panel of "testers" then sipped the solution, in increasingly diluted concentrations, until they reached the point that the liquid no longer burned their mouths. A number was then assigned to each chile pepper based on how much it needed to be diluted before they could no longer taste (feel) the heat. To give you an idea as to the intensity of capsaicin's heat, one part of chile "heat" per 1,000,000 drops of water is rated at only 1.5 Scoville Units. The greatest weakness of the Scoville Organoleptic Test is its imprecision, because it relies on human subjectivity. Today, Spice heat is usually measured by a method using high performance liquid chromatography or HPLC. This method identifies and measures the concentration of heat-producing chemicals which are then used in a mathematical formula in which they are weighted according to their relative capacity to produce a sensation of heat. This current method yields results, not in Scoville units, but in American Spice Trade Association or ASTA pungency units. A measurement of one part capsaicin per million corresponds to about 15 Scoville units, and the published method says that ASTA pungency units can be multiplied by 15 and reported as Scoville units. While this conversion is approximate, spice experts say that there is consensus that it gives results about 20–40% lower than the actual Scoville method would have given. Even with modern science behind it the pungency values for any pepper, stated in Scoville units, are imprecise, due to variation within a species, easily by a factor of 10 or more. Some of the factors that influence a peppers heat are: When interpreting Scoville ratings, this should be kept in mind. Even today, heat lists seldom agree and appear to be subject to certain amount of objectivity. Below are two different lists from different sources. As you will see, many discrepancies appear, even from the experts.
Scoville scale (Source Unknown) | 15,000,000 | Pure capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin | | 9,100,000 | Nordihydrocapsaicin | | 8,600,000 | Homodihydrocapsaicin and homocapsaicin | | 5,300,000 | Police grade pepper spray | | 2,000,000 | Common pepper spray | | 350,000 - 580,000 | Red Savina habanera | | 100,000 - 350,000 | Habanera chile | | 100,000 - 325,000 | Scotch bonnet | | 100,000 - 225,000 | African Birdseye (aka "African Devil") | | 100,000 - 200,000 | Jamaican hot pepper | | 100,000 - 125,000 | Carolina cayenne pepper | | 95,000 - 110,000 | Bahamian pepper | | 85,000 - 115,000 | Tabiche pepper | | 50,000 - 100,000 | Chiltepin pepper | | 50,000 - 100,000 | Rocoto | | 40,000 - 58,000 | Pequin pepper | | 40,000 - 50,000 | Super chile pepper | | 40,000 - 50,000 | Santaka pepper | | 30,000 - 50,000 | Cayenne pepper | | 30,000 - 50,000 | Tabasco pepper | | 15,000 - 30,000 | de Arbol pepper | | 12,000 - 30,000 | Manzano pepper, Ají | | 5,000 - 23,000 | Serrano pepper | | 5,000 - 10,000 | Hot wax pepper | | 5,000 - 10,000 | Chipotle | | 2,500 - 8,000 | Jalapeńo | | 2,500 - 8,000 | Santaka pepper | | 2,500 - 5,000 | Guajilla pepper | | 1,500 - 2,500 | Rocotilla pepper | | 1,000 - 2,000 | Pasilla pepper | | 1,000 - 2,000 | Ancho pepper | | 1,000 - 2,000 | Poblano pepper | | 700 - 1,000 | Coronado pepper | | 500 - 2,500 | Anaheim pepper | | 500 - 1,000 | New Mexico pepper | | 500 - 700 | Santa Fe Grande pepper | | 100 - 500 | Pepperoncini pepper | | 100 - 500 | Pimento | | 0 | Sweet bell pepper |
Scoville scale (source Wikipedia)| Scoville rating | Type of pepper |
|---|
| 15,000,000–16,000,000 | Pure capsaicin | | 8,600,000–9,100,000 | Various capsaicinoids (e.g. homocapsaicin, homodihydrocapsaicin, nordihydrocapsaicin) | | 5,000,000–5,300,000 | Law Enforcement Grade pepper spray, FN 303 irritant ammunition | | 855,000–1,050,000 | Naga Jolokia | | 350,000–580,000 | Red Savina Habanero | | 100,000–350,000 | Habanero chili, Scotch Bonnet Pepper, Datil pepper, Rocoto, Jamaican Hot Pepper, African Birdseye, Madame Jeanette | | 50,000–100,000 | Thai Pepper, Malagueta Pepper, Chiltepin Pepper, Pequin Pepper | | 30,000–50,000 | Cayenne Pepper, Ají pepper, Tabasco pepper, some Chipotle peppers, Cumari pepper (Capsicum Chinese) | | 10,000–23,000 | Serrano Pepper, some Chipotle peppers | | 2,500–8,000 | Jalapeńo Pepper, Guajillo pepper, New Mexican varieties of Anaheim pepper, Paprika (Hungarian wax pepper) | | 500–2,500 | Anaheim pepper, Poblano Pepper, Rocotillo Pepper | | 100–500 | Pimento, Pepperoncini | | 0 | No heat, Bell pepper | Since the experts can't even agree, I suggest that we all enjoy them to their fullest and let each of us decide for ourselves which is the hottest. Then find someone to engage in a lively debate of our own over which is the hottest pepper. But please keep it friendly. After all, debate which has no logical conclusion and sways no one is one of the foundational truths upon which individuality is built and keeps us thinking. But keep a towel handy to wipe the beads of sweat from your brow and a tall glass of cold milk handy to quite the flames and let the only smoke from your ears be from the peppers. the Hillbilly Gardener |
