Hot, Hot, Heat: What Makes a Pepper Hot?

Here, at Gourmet Chips & Sauces, we are all about foods that pack a punch, namely; chili peppers. All of our products contain a range of peppers, from the popular Jalapeño to the notorious Ghost Pepper, which is about 400 times hotter than your run of the mill hot. In order to be a proper chili head, you gotta understand what makes these little guys infamous; their heat.

Peppers are measured on the Scoville Scale, which is named after its creator;American pharmacist, Wilbur Scoville, in 1912. The Scoville scale measures the concentration of capsaicin in the pepper, which is the compound that gives the pepper its kick. The way it works is, basically, the capsaicin in a pepper is dissolved into sugar water and given to five trained testers in increasing concentrations, until three of them can detect heat. The heat level is then based on how diluted the solution is when heat was detected. These poor suckers must have been in for quite a surprise when they tasted the Ghost Pepper, originating from India, or the Scorpion Pepper, originating from Trinidad, both of which held Guinness world records for being the hottest pepper on the PLANET. These two score over a million on the Scoville Scale.

Now what does 1 million Scoville heat units mean? Let’s give you some perspective. The popular, yet meek and submissive relative of the chili pepper, the Bell pepper, has a score of 0 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). The Jalapeño, the mainstream star of the chili pepper family has a score of 2,500 to 10, 000. Another popular pepper, Cayenne, rates at 30,000 to 50,000. For those of you wishing to live a little on the edge, the red Habanero chili sits at about 300,000 to 475,000. And for you chilli head freaks who enjoy playing with fire (almost literally), you can seek out the Ghost pepper which holds its place at 1, 041, 427 on the scale, or the Scorpion pepper which packs a whopping 1.2 million SHU (mean score).

We at Gourmet Chips & Sauces hope to not only provide you with the tastiest and spiciest of products, we also hope to educate our customers. Whether you’re a well-seasoned chili head who is on the perpetual search for the hottest and spiciest, or a pepper newbie who simply wants to spice up their home cooking, the Scoville Scale is a good thing to become acquainted with. If you’re not sure what is best suited towards your palette, then feel free to email us. Tell us about what you’ve tasted in the past and how you’ve responded and we can suggest a few products from the wide range that we provide that would be best for you.

Aubrey D. Posted by Aubrey D.

Aubrey D., a hot foods fanatic who likes by these words:

LIVE HOT, BE FREE! Be a rebel!

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