The Scoville Unit

Working as a chemist for Parke Davis, the pharmaceutical company, Wilbur Scoville set out to develop a unit of measure for the heat in chile peppers.

The test he came up with is a dilution taste test where ground chile peppers are diluted with a sugar-water solution and tasted. The level at which there is no longer a burning sensation is then determined. So, the amount of water needed to dilute the pepper determines where that pepper will fall on the scale.



The very least pungent of all chile peppers, and not coincidentally the most popular, is the bell pepper. With a rating of zero Scoville Units , the bell pepper provides a base level of heat, or lack thereof.

On the other end of the scale is the Habanero. Weighing in at over 300,000 Scoville units, this pepper is barely consumable by most humans. The hottest strain of the Habanero, the "Red Savina", has been tested at some 577,000 Scoville units. Wow!

The following scale gives you an idea where all the other peppers fall in line.

The Heat Scale!

0-100 Bell and Sweet Peppers
500-1000 New Mexican Peppers
1000-2500 Ancho, Pasilla and Cascabel Peppers
2500-5000 Jalapeno and Mirasol Peppers
5,000-15,000 Serrano
15,000-30,000 de Arbol Peppers
30,000-50,000 Cayenne and Tabasco Peppers
50,000-100,000 Chiltepin Peppers
100,000-350,000 Scotch Bonnet and Thai Peppers
200,000-577,000 Habanero Peppers
16 million Pure Capsaicin

Thanks to the U.K. Chile-Head website for much of our information on Chile Peppers.

Capsaicin - Where the
Heat Comes From!

Capsaicin is an incredibly powerful and stable alkaloid seemingly unaffected by cold or heat, which retains its original potency despite time, cooking, or freezing. Because it has no flavor, color, or odor, the precise amount of capsaicin present in chiles can only be measured by a specialized laboratory procedure known as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Although it has no odor or flavor, it is one of the most pungent compounds known, detectable to the palate in dilutions of one to seventeen million. It is slightly soluble in water, but very soluble in alcohols, fats, and oils."

Whatever the case, it is capsaicin where you will find the heat. This information and lots more was found in the article, "The Nature of Capsaicin", by Dave DeWitt, and excerpted from his book,