monkeyboy
<font color=purple>Strangely fascinated by zombies
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2003
- Messages
- 13,728
Saw this on Good Eats
A scale developed by Wilbur Scoville in 1912, to measure the heat level in chillies. It was first a subjective taste test, but since, it has been refined by the use of HPLC, the unit is named in honour of its inventor.
The test officially measures the pungency level of a given pepper. There are other methods, but the Scoville Scale remains the most widely used and respected. The greater the number of Scoville units, the hotter the pepper. Of course, being a natural product, the heat can vary from pepper to pepper, so this scale is just a guide.
*The hottest pepper recorded was a Habenero.
Pure Capsaicin measures 16,000,000 Scoville units.
A scale developed by Wilbur Scoville in 1912, to measure the heat level in chillies. It was first a subjective taste test, but since, it has been refined by the use of HPLC, the unit is named in honour of its inventor.

The test officially measures the pungency level of a given pepper. There are other methods, but the Scoville Scale remains the most widely used and respected. The greater the number of Scoville units, the hotter the pepper. Of course, being a natural product, the heat can vary from pepper to pepper, so this scale is just a guide.
*The hottest pepper recorded was a Habenero.
Pure Capsaicin measures 16,000,000 Scoville units.