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Is there any related scales for the heat of say Black pepper(piper nigra), Tasmanian pepper(Tasmannia sp.), Vietnamese mint or Berberis?
I noticed Thai green chilies listed at above 500,000 scoville units. I see no mention anywhere else verifying this claim.
The article states "15 Scoville units is equivalent to one part capsaicin per million." Logically, the maximum value on the scale can then only be 15 * 1 million parts per million = 15.000.000 SCU, no 16 million as the list states. I could only find sources that agree with the 15 * 1 ppm figure, thus I assume the 16 million value is just a marketing gag of Blair Lazard (16 mio reserve). If nobody objects, I'll change the value in the list. --Matthias Bauer 18:45, 4 December 2005 (UTC)
(Lots of thoughts to consider)...
The Scoville heat unit scale is outdated, objective and shouldn't be encouraged as being the way to determine heat in peppers. The official American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) method for determining heat of peppers is the HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromotography) HPLC determines the amount of capsaicin in parts per million and then this is somehow converted to SHUs. Unfortunately, I have as yet to find how one converts ppm to SHUs if someone can find that source, this fact should be noted as soon as that determination is found.
I have been told by several hot sauce manufacturers that the numbers SHUs cited as being in their hot sauces are pure approximations, because the cost of performing the HPCL is too dear. Hearsay, yes, but if we can get a verifiable source to cite, it would be useful.
Also, SHU tests as well as HPLCs require a base control in order to be reliable. I am having difficulty finding reliable sources for the details of what HPLC testing companies use to determine their ppms. Most of what is on the internet is redundant repetitions of the same false information.
Also, giving specific peppers specific SHUs is dangerous since no two peppers even on the same bush will consistently have the same level of SHUs and these amounts need to be determined in ranges. The idea that a specific type of pepper is going to automatically score a minimum level of SHUs is faulty, because any pepper is capable of not developing capsaicin and some species of habanero have been cultivated specifically because they have no capsaicin.
Another difficulty with SHU tests is that they cannot decipher between the different capsaicinoids. There are five.
According to an article at http://www.foodproductdesign.com/archive/1996/0596DE.html --- Scott Harris, technical service manager for Cal Compack Foods, Santa Ana, CA is quoted as saying "The coefficient of error is 50% for the Scoville method and less than 12% for the HPLC method" -- if this quote is verifiable (verified) I think this fact should be mentioned.
http://www.zarc.com/english/cap-stun/tech_info/oc/hplc.html This site cites ASTA analytical methods in determining capsaicin levels, but it's too technical for me to decipher as accurate. It determines capsaicin standard as 15,000,000. It seems to me that ASTA determines that actual value as 15,000,000.
I don't know where Blair Lazar got the count for 16,000,000 but although Guinness accepts that this is the hottest sauce commercially available, there is no mention anywhere on their website that they agree to the "16,000,000" count.
Given that ASTA is the worlds' authority in the spice world I'm inclined to lean on their 15,000,000 and to question the 16,000,000 as the maximum rating on Dave's Gourmet.
http://www.lib.iastate.edu:81/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1Y411832466FN.44508&profile=parks&source=~!horizon&view=items&uri=full=3100001~!1063526~!1&ri=1&aspect=basic_search&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=capsaicin&index=.GW&uindex=&aspect=basic_search&menu=search&ri=1 This link speaks to the determination of capsaicin in capiscums, but it's another member only database.
I believe that AOAC International also uses the HPCL as the determinate for capsaicin in capsicum, I haven't found details yet... they're here: http://www.aoac.org/
More to come...
Tina Brooks 03:37, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
It seems obvious that this question is meaningless; the measurement processes are too imprecise. It appears that by convention, when the HPLC method is used, the capsaicin concentration in parts per million is multiplied by 15. This is described in the Food Product Design article mentioned above [1]: "The HPLC measures the capsaicinoid(s) in ppm, which can then be converted to Scoville units using a conversion factor of 15, 20 or 30 depending on the capsaicinoid." These round numbers clearly suggest that this is just a rough equivalence. Similarly, the reference, http://www.zarc.com/english/cap-stun/tech_info/oc/hplc.html noted above uses the word "assume," i.e. pure capsaicin is "assumed" to be 15,000,000 units.
The Food Product Design article quotes a technical person as saying "The coefficient of error is 50% for the Scoville method and less than 12% for the HPLC method." Obviously this means that nobody can possibly know whether pure capsaican is "really" 15,000,000 or 16,000,000 on the original organoleptic Scoville scale. In fact, it sounds as if it could easily be anywhere from 10,000,000 to 20,000,000.
Furthermore, even the HPLC method is said to have a 12% error. It's not clear whether that means plus-or-minus 12% or plus-or-minus 6%, but in any case the difference between 15,000,000 and 16,000,000 is only 6.66%.
Too bad Scoville didn't propose a logarithmic scale. Dpbsmith (talk) 14:44, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
I don't know how to do it, but Red Savina Habanero requires the TM symbol. Per the US Trademark database: http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=5a67l5.2.1 Tina Brooks 21:02, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
How is this relevant? It's a scale?--I hope that's not the extent of it. -Tedpennings 09:08, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
Well, these been tagged as unsourced for some time now and no sources have been provied. I'm removing them from the article and parking them here. They can be reinserted when source citations are provided. In case anyone isn't familiar with Wikipedia's verifiability policy, which is linked at the bottom of every edit box, in brief it states that 1. Articles should contain only material that has been published by reputable sources. 2. Editors adding new material to an article should cite a reputable source, or it may be removed by any editor. 3. The obligation to provide a reputable source lies with the editors wishing to include the material, not on those seeking to remove it.
I have little doubt that most of this information has in fact been published, but before putting it into an article it is necessary to include the published source from which it was obtained. Dpbsmith (talk) 00:51, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
P. S. In cases where the item has a Wikipedia article which gives a Scoville rating, it is still necessary to find where that article got its Scoville rating and copy the reference here into this article, as Wikipedia articles are not acceptable references for other articles (WP:RS). Dpbsmith (talk) 00:54, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
Police grade is not 5 mill. Most agencies operate around 1 mill. The tough ones are considered two mill. Trust me I was sprayed with BodyGuard LE-1O (rated at 2 million) about 6 hours ago for training and certification to carry OC spray. I did a bit of research and between our instructors telling us so and about 10 companies that sell LE-10 that claim it to be one of the strongest I'm pretty sure police grade doesnt go much higher. There may be 5 mill pepper sprays out there, but you'll be hard pressed to find a police agency that approves their use, thus shouldnt the cap be brought down, because if the police dont use it, it's obviously not police grade... ? Thoughts ? thekingbeav 09:29, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
Scoville rating | Type of pepper |
---|---|
7,100,000 | "The Source" hot sauce[citation needed] |
5,300,000 | Police grade Pepper spray [citation needed] |
2,000,000 | Common pepper spray or Pepper Bomb[citation needed] |
350,000 - 580,000 | Red Savina habanero[citation needed] |
100,000 - 350,000 | Habanero chile[citation needed] |
100,000 - 325,000 | Scotch bonnet[citation needed] |
100,000 - 225,000 | African birdseye (aka "African Devil", "Piri-Piri")[citation needed] |
100,000 - 200,000 | Jamaican hot pepper[citation needed] |
100,000 - 125,000 | Carolina cayenne pepper[citation needed] |
95,000 - 110,000 | Bahamian pepper[citation needed] |
85,000 - 115,000 | Tabiche pepper[citation needed] |
50,000 - 100,000 | Chiltepin pepper[citation needed] |
50,000 - 100,000 | Rocoto[citation needed] |
40,000 - 58,000 | Pequin pepper[citation needed] |
40,000 - 50,000 | Super chile pepper[citation needed] |
40,000 - 50,000 | Santaka pepper[citation needed] |
30,000 - 50,000 | Cayenne pepper[citation needed] |
30,000 - 50,000 | Tabasco pepper[citation needed] |
15,000 - 30,000 | de Arbol pepper[citation needed] |
12,000 - 30,000 | Manzano pepper, Ají[citation needed] |
5,000 - 23,000 | Serrano pepper[citation needed] |
5,000 - 10,000 | Hot wax pepper[citation needed] |
5,000 - 10,000 | Chipotle[citation needed] |
2,500 - 8,000 | Jalapeño[citation needed] |
2,500 - 8,000 | Santaka pepper[citation needed] |
2,500 - 5,000 | Guajilla pepper[citation needed] |
2,500 | Tabasco Sauce[citation needed] |
1,500 - 2,500 | Rocotilla pepper[citation needed] |
1,000 - 2,000 | Pasilla pepper[citation needed] |
1,000 - 2,000 | Ancho pepper[citation needed] |
1,000 - 2,000 | Poblano pepper[citation needed] |
700 - 1,000 | Coronado pepper[citation needed] |
500 - 2,500 | Anaheim pepper[citation needed] |
500 - 1,000 | New Mexico pepper[citation needed] |
500 - 700 | Santa Fe Grande pepper[citation needed] |
100 - 500 | Pepperoncini pepper[citation needed] |
100 - 500 | Pimento[citation needed] |
0 | Bell pepper[citation needed] |
I have now reinstated the table as it is the most important content on this page. The ((Fact)) tags indicate the need for references. Better spend your time on finding those references in the scientific literature... :-) Cacycle 08:25, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
The article's sentence "Scoville units are imprecise" is itself imprecise and should be replaced by a precise statement of what is imprecise. The modern Scoville unit *per se* is not imprecise at all. t is defined by 1 Scoville unit = 1 part of capsaicinoids per 15 million, and it is now determined precisely by a chemical test called high performance liquid chromatography -- and these facts appear in the article. (Except for a mild error: the article says "1 part of capsaicin per 15 million" where it should say "capsaicinoids" in place of "capsaicin". This should be corrected.)
What is imprecise should be made precise: It is mentioned that the original "organoleptic" test is subjective and therefore imprecise, but the sentence "Scoville units are imprecise" doesn't make clear what version of "Scoville units" it refers to. And what is implied but not stated explicitlly is that using the liquid chromatography method, what is imprecise is the assignment of a fixed number of Scoville units to a given variety of capsicum. (And this rarely happens; in almost all such tables, one finds a *range* of Scoville units assigned to a given variety.) Daqu 15:01, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
A few additions and citations here and there. Any more will be greatly recieved. ~ Pyoro
How official is this term? Most sources I've seen simply refer to them as Scoville units. If "Scoville heat unit" is correct, it certainly has an unscientific ring to it, as it's not a unit of temperature but pungency. This goes too for the article itself, as it uses the words "heat" or "hotness" while referring to pungency.
The way I read the definition of Scoville values in the second paragraph, a completely non-hot pepper would have a value of 1, i.e. a 1:1 dilution of the pepper has no detectable heat. Yet in the chart of values, bell peppers are given a value of 0. I believe this to be inconsistent.
1. See here: http://www.nmsu.edu/~ucomm/Releases/2007/february/hottest_chile.htm Should probably be incorporated into the scoville scale somehow.
2. Also, the top picture and its caption should be removed and replaced with the new record holder, or the caption should be changed to second hottest for the Naga Jolokia.
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Omglazers (talk • contribs) 04:44, 22 February 2007 (UTC).
hitandrun83@hotmail.com
Naga Morich is the hottest pepper raiting at 1.6 million scovilles. Atleast that what the guy selling "snake bite" hot sauce. If naga morich and naga jolokia and bhut or bih jolokia are the same, why are there differeces listed for their heat?
Why can't this section be included in the article? Isn't it possible to calculate SHU this way?
The resulting hotness for a mix of solutions with known volumes and known concentrations of capsaicin , measured in SHU, is described by the formula:[citation needed]
or by using as the quantity of volume between solution 1 relative to 2: E.g. mixing 2 parts of 10 000 SHU with 1 part of 100 000 SHU results in 40 000 SHU. |
Libido 15:42, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I think I read somewhere that tear gas is in the range of thirty to fifty million scovilles. Is this a fact? Can non-capsaicin chemicals be properly rated on the Scoville Scale? --Alx xlA 03:02, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
I'm having some trouble figuring some of this stuff out. I grew up in New Mexico and only knew the chiles in that area as "Chiles". It wasn't until I got to Seattle that I learned that there were different types. (Sure we knew of "Jalapenos" and "Habeneros" but those weren't included in what was meant when one said chiles in New Mexico.)
So, now I find out that the "Anaheim Chile Pepper" is the more common term for the New Mexican Chile Pepper. The problem I'm having to reconcil, is that New Mexico Chile Peppers are typically much hotter (say 4000-5000) than Anaheim Chile Peppers, (250-500) and in particular, Anaheim Chile Peppers are described as being less hot than Poblanos. New Mexico Chile Peppers are typically much hotter than Poblanos. Now, while I'm aware that they are the same species, they are different genetic branches of the same tree, where New Mexico Chiles are still bred for high heat for native dishes, even if they're bred for lower heat for the consumption outside of New Mexico.
So, should this list mention "most Anaheim Chiles", and "New Mexican strains of Anaheim Chiles"? Or should they be properly refered to as different, but point to the same thing. --Puellanivis 19:23, 22 October 2007 (UTC)
There is a chill sauce called Da Bomb which as been tested to 1,500,000 by a third party lab. Can we add this to the table?
http://www.chilliworld.com/SP6.asp?p_id=101
Tim —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.154.28.46 (talk) 10:58, 19 November 2007 (UTC)
Just wonderind, what would be Black Pepper on the scale? --68.219.79.145 (talk) 20:00, 18 December 2007 (UTC) (Answer here at my talk page, PTOWERY
SHU Conversion Chart
How much sugar water is needed to neutralize one part of capsaicin, or until the pungency has dissippated? For example, does it take one part water and one part sugar to equal one sugar water unit necessary to determine the Pungency ratio and then, How much liquid volume does one use to measure one SHU? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jacqndave (talk • contribs) 19:44, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
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"855,000-1,050,000 Naga Jolokia [7][8][9], Dr Pepper [10]"
Somehow I doubt the validity of Dr. Pepper being that high on the scale, or even at all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gisforgenocide (talk • contribs) 02:05, 10 September 2008
Dr Pepper at 855,000-1,050,000 SHU? I think someone's pulling our leg, or else there's a cultivar that someone called 'Dr Pepper' as a joke. -Megan in Texas 2602:306:CD93:1700:150D:4C53:B297:D794 (talk) 00:15, 10 September 2017 (UTC)
I don't have an account here, nor am I familiar with editing, but someone should fix this. When pepper spray manufactures say their pepper spray is 2 million SHU (sabre red) or 5.3 million SHU (fox) they mean the actual Oleoresin Capsicum solution they use to make the pepper spray. This solution is diluted by solvents and propellents. To find the actual SHU for the spray, it must be multiplied by the OC Percentage. Fox labs has a 2% solution in their 5.3 million meaning the stuff that comes out of the nozzle is 106,000 SHU. Sabre Red has a 10% solution so it's 200,000 SHU out of the nozzle.
I'm not sure what we should say the range is; Some pepper spray brands go as low as 32,000 SHU at the nozzle. Realistically though, what police use is around 100,000- 200,000 SHU. The numbers need to be changed, that citation should be changed, and the level in the chart should be bumped down to the proper position.
Citations -2007 Sabre Red Law Enforcement Catalog http://www.sabrered.com/PDFs/2007-Law-Enforcement-Defense-Catalog-Sabre-Red.pdf (some may argue that this could be biased, so i'll give more)
-http://www.reliapon.com/shu.htm (This comes from another pepper spray maker, but their numbers match those given by their competition.)
-http://www.blissfulweb.com/family-home/article4715.htm (that's an independent article but i don't know where it originally came from, it's reproduced on many pages.
Maybe you guys would like to find more things that support what I'm saying, but I'm pretty sure the page is in error. 65.32.154.189 (talk) 06:26, 14 January 2009 (UTC)
I don't have an account, but I agree completely with this. I've consumed both pepper spray directly and sandwiches that were 5 million Scoville, and I can say with absolute certainty that the sandwich was much more than twice as hot. Even ignoring the above, the estimates for pepper spray given in the source are between 500,000 and "over 5 million", while the scale reads 5 million to 5,300,000. Most common pepper sprays are listed in the two million Scoville range, including the ones I have consumed. The above should not be ignored either; Mad Dog's Revenge, Special Edition sauce is made with 6 million Scoville extract, yet can only boast 700,000 Scoville units due to being dilluted with other ingredients and peppers such as habaneros which have a much lower capsaicin content. By the above reckoning, Mad Dog's Revenge, Special Edition would have to be classified and sold as an extract, not a sauce. The bottle is labeled appropriately as stands, noting the Scoville units of the extract and overall sauce separately. The sooner this glaring factual error is corrected, the better.
I just found a medical supported source that backs up a police assessment for SHU in pepper spray. Most law enforcement grade pepper spray rates between 500,000 and 2,000,000 SHU, so we would go with the median number per WP:CALC. This is how our other pepper related articles are handled with wide ranges of SHU. The example being used isn't talking about home or self defense which is made clear with the added link to law enforcement. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 16:05, 2 September 2022 (UTC)
Hi. I wrote a subsection about two peppers a few days ago, which according to a seed company is even stronger than the strongest one on the Scoville scale, the Naga Jolokia. I referred to a web page hosted by the company; the section I added was removed because of claimed advertizing, and I got a warning. I still think the section should be in the article though; even if it is in a modified shape. If someone else agrees with me, that one can gladly put it back; myself I'm not going to put it there again. --Kri (talk) 19:52, 20 January 2009 (UTC)
Kri: we cannot distinguish between you and someone working covertly to bring notice to the company, which is advertising. WP doesn't promote adding information solely for the purpose of advertising, and company websites are notoriously poor for accurate information about a product. As Ratel stated, we really do need some sort of real scientific source for the scoville rating of these peppers being above the Naga Jolokia. As for the heat of a pepper being dependent upon the scoville rating, it's scientifically validated information. The capsicum molecule is known to be the active ingredient in determining "heat" of a pepper, as it activates the pain/heat sensors of mammals. --Puellanivis (talk) 00:37, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
I believe many people own a plant from a local gardening store that is called something like 'an ornamental hybrid' or 'super chili' or some such thing. Could one of you experts not figure out how to write an article on this cultivar? I believe that it is a hybrid or mutant cayenne.--137.186.217.73 (talk) 19:50, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
The scale shown here shows chipotles as hotten than jalapenos. Given that chipotles are just smoked jalapenos can someone explain this?
The thought that drying might concentrate them occurs to me but rating dried vs fresh on the same scale without accounting for that would seem bad methodology, as any pepper could be dried, and chipotles are often sold in a can, rehydrated (in a sauce). --Ericjs (talk) 03:26, 9 April 2009 (UTC)
Supporting EDIT: I must second Ericjs on this... it is becoming widely known (even among amateur cooks) that a Chipotle is a smoked or otherwise roasted Jalepeno. Neither drying nor cooking concentrates the heat; in fact it mellows it, attributing to the Chipotle's recent popularity among less spicy-tongued diners.
There is no such thing as a Chipotle Pepper proper, much less a hotter version of a Jalapeno other than, well, a Jalapeno. I feel "Some Chipotle Peppers" assumes a spiced, canned or otherwise re-packaged version (of an already altered pepper), so it categorically has no place on the list lest you count the innumerable peppered meals as well.
I'll give our suggestions a few days to "simmer" before I edit the article itself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Spectrezero (talk • contribs) 20:44, 18 April 2009 (UTC)
Make me the third, I just added citation needed to both before read the discussion page. I think facts need to be in place for these two claims to be made, especially based on fairly prevalent knowledge that chipotles are simply smoked jalepenos. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.105.233.228 (talk) 21:44, 14 December 2009 (UTC)
Before me sits the May 2007 issue of National Geographic, in which the tabasco pepper is listed having an "average" value of 190,524 SHUs. The magazine cites the Chili Pepper Institute of New Mexico State University as a reference. LizShort (talk) 17:23, 20 April 2009 (UTC)
Amazing. Until relatively recent times nothing on Earth could be measured to 6 significant figures, and this level of precision is still rare (it's a good wristwatch that doesn't gain or lose 30 seconds in a year), yet this claims no-one would notice a sensation of heat if the pepper was diluted 1,067,287 to 1. Please provide the error bars that justify this level of precision. It's abusive of numbers to pretend that 1,067,286 actually means this pepper is hotter than another scored 1,067,285. --Wtshymanski (talk) 16:13, 25 April 2010 (UTC)
There's one sample of 1m, one of 1,05m etc. (all probably measured as ppm and then recalculated based on 16 15m = 100%). Well, take a hundred samples, do the average- print the final number. Because it's such a crazy number nobody can remember, more people will believe it to be "scientific and proven and very, very correct". This is pretty common in science, (and in sports), but yes, it's really "about five times a habanero as they grow down that hill in sunny years". To get real information, I'd not only want the average, but the standard deviation, too. No peppers are alike, not even from the same plant, and a single one can ruin your chili con carne as well as your average. 92.230.117.172 (talk) 21:15, 4 May 2010 (UTC)
I would think that our ability to quote the precision of a number would track pretty well with Pi, up until calculus was invented. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.88.83.117 (talk) 06:53, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
Should "Dave's Insanity Sauce" and Tobasco sauce be on the provided scoville scale? Though it may have some history in the world of hot sauce, it seems that these inclusions of branded products are out of place in an article which is description of a scientific unit of measurement. It would be better placed on a page reserved for "World's Hottest Hot Sauces". - Evan Rappaport July 11 2010 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.237.227.60 (talk) 16:03, 11 July 2010 (UTC)
Would be interesting to know the scoville rating of more non-chili ingredients like sichuan peppercorns, and more varieties from the subcontinent like the kashmiri chili. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.105.210.209 (talk) 19:19, 17 December 2010 (UTC)
Oh wow. Here's an article on the mile. Let's list distances between all the world's cities, after all, that's measured in miles.
Please don't list all the world's chile peppers or various hot sauces here. The article is about the Scoville scale and not a sales catalog for chile heads. The numbers have *huge* error bars on them (compared to measurements in, oh, say, Hertz or metres), and any two random peppers grown at different times and different places will have great differences in the Scoville numbers, let alone the differences *betweeen the laboratories themselves*. Think of this before you list the merciless Pepper of Quetzalacatenango, grown deep in the forest primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum. --Wtshymanski (talk) 20:28, 1 December 2011 (UTC)
This article focuses on chilli peppers. Surely the piquance of curries could just as well be measured in this way? After all, you could just as well dilute a curry sauce as you could a pepper extract. (Indeed, the documentation on Template:Infobox pepper states that it can be used for "heat of chillies, curries, or anything that calls for a rating on the Scoville scale".)
Though I'm not sure that we can meaningfully list Scoville ratings for different kinds of curry, since recipes vary. But it would still be meaningful in the context of specific curry recipes, so it would make sense to at least mention it here. Or is there some other standard way in which the hotness of curries is measured? — Smjg (talk) 20:27, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
You could ofcourse do it the same way as with chili sauces, but no one is interested in curry scovilles. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Floss 666 (talk • contribs) 17:29, 22 August 2012 (UTC)
Actually, curry spiciness originates directly from capsaicin in peppers. So we have a plain dilution, capsaicin content in pepper, pepper content in curry. There's not enough mystery behind this to write scientific papers about that. Just take a pepper of known spiciness, make a curry with it, divide the SHU of the pepper by its concentration in the curry and you have the SHU of the curry. 83.14.232.226 (talk) 11:04, 6 April 2016 (UTC)
The article doesn't mention whether, when establishing the Scoville value for a pepper, you take 1 pepper or a specific mass of peppers. If it's the former, then 10 jalapenos have 10 times the Scoville value of one jalapeno. Could someone clarify? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Phthalo123 (talk • contribs) 17:29, 3 November 2012 (UTC)
Dry or wet? -- Toytoy 00:23, 21 September 2005 (UTC)
Aji dulce, also called Venezuela, were listed next to bell peppers as having no significant heat. I removed it, due to uncertainty of the correct value, and doubt that it would be insignificant. I found one vague corroborating reference (snippet view shows "Aji Dulce...no heat"), and two references contradict it, [books.google.com/books?id=m4vvs87XiucC&pg=PA90 one] listing it as 2,500-5,000, the other as 200,000-350,0000. Additionally, and a reference that described it as a mildly pungent cultivar of Capsicum chinense with high levels of capsinoid, based on a 2010 study by Tanaka et al. (Tanaka's paper shows up in Google Scholar, but not as free to read; "Scoville" doesn't seem to occur in the paper). Agyle (talk) 21:22, 29 June 2014 (UTC)
From the current page, "Increasing concentrations of the extracted capsinoids are given to a panel of five trained tasters, until a majority (at least three) can detect the heat in a dilution." That doesn't fit with the scale, or with what I'm reading on other sites. http://www.chilipepper.com/Information/ScovilleScale/tabid/59/Default.aspx
The amount of capsinoids needs to remain fixed, as the amount of water dilution increased. The panel votes when the heat is NOT detectable. This accounts for the very low number of dilutions for sweet peppers and the very high dilutions needed for spicy peppers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Will.in.Eugene (talk • contribs) 01:52, 1 October 2014 (UTC)
The sources don't say that. Where do we get those figures? Anna Frodesiak (talk) 12:07, 25 October 2014 (UTC)
I have to be skeptical of the way the table is formatted, with the Carolina Reaper (which I've heard cited in many places as the hottest pepper) in its own category at 2,200,000 SHU, while the next tier down goes up to 2,199,999. All of the other tiers are rounded off to round numbers, many of them even overlapping the range represented by other tiers. The article cited for the 2.2 million SHU figure mentions that that was the result for the hottest individual Carolina Reaper pepper tested. Add to that the fact that the Wikipedia article for the Carolina Reaper cites an average of 1,569,300 SHU for the cultivar, and it falls squarely in the range defined by the lower tier. 98.235.202.85 (talk) 22:45, 28 March 2015 (UTC)
A story by the Associated Press says the record is for the hottest batch of Currie's peppers tested, code named HP22B, which stands for "Higher Power, Pot No. 22, Plant B." The hottest individual Carolina Reaper came in at 2.2 million Scoville heat units. juanTamad 01:42, 29 March 2015 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jtamad (talk • contribs)
Just checked in on this to see what the table looks like. I like that someone gave a range to the Carolina Reaper, but the lower end of the range cited (~1.6 million SHU) is actually the average--by definition, half of the individual peppers of the cultivar fall below that number. I also still feel like it should be included in the next tier down, since its entire SHU range falls within that bracket. Nothing wrong with mentioning the current record-holder for hottest pepper somewhere in the article, although if the new addition to the table (which also infuriatingly has its own tier now) is correct, the Carolina Reaper no longer holds that distinction. 98.235.202.85 (talk) 22:29, 3 October 2015 (UTC)
It is a lot easier to read 16 million than it is to read 16,000,000 etc. 124.176.161.161 (talk) 13:45, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
Jalapeño is listed in both 1,000-4,000 and 3,500-10,000. Which is it? And why does the first range go to 4,000 and the next one start at 3,500? Stevie is the man! Talk • Work 14:01, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
"The HP56 Death Strain is currently the highest rated pepper in the world (SHU)."
The chart: "The Carolina Reaper is the hottest pepper in the world (SHU)." —User 000 name 19:02, 22 October 2015 (UTC)
If the scoville scale is a measure of capsaicin concentration, then how can a chemical rank higher on the scoville scale than pure capsaicin? —User 000 name 19:06, 22 October 2015 (UTC)
It is clearly stated in the section "Scoville organoleptic test" that one SHU unit is related to the number of times the capsinoids solution must be diluted for testers to agree that there is no detectable heat in the sample.
Confusingly the paragraph ends with: The heat level is based on this dilution, rated in multiples of 100 SHU.[4]
What does this mean? Can we clearly define what 1 SHU is and what the heat level is? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andyofmelbourne (talk • contribs) 10:01, 22 January 2016 (UTC)
Whevever I look for peppers I see things listed as STU on the back of the label.. Like what the heck is STU? Ive head of SHU obviously but all these products keep calling it STU? is it the same measurement? I mean I cant find anywhere online what the heck STU is and when I look at it, it seems to draw me back to the scoville scale... eh so much inconsistency.. take a look at the back at some spring valley Cayenne 40,000 STU... why dose it not say SHU? Then I look up the articles related to this and the pepper and its SHU... errr. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:204:D403:D96B:25B7:544D:3665:EA7B (talk) 05:48, 11 August 2017 (UTC)
Okay as Im looking around I find one suggesting a scale called Scoville Thermal Units (STU) I had to go though many, many pages to get a reference to it but seems to be what many American supplements are using to rate their pepper products now.. here's a couple examples where you can see products labeled clearly as STU,
http://www.betterlife.com/product/cayenne-40000-stus/natures-herbs/5538 https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Valley-Cayenne-Fruit-Capsules/dp/B001QRV546
if you dig around you may find more STU and references to Scoville thermal units.. but I'm starting to think it was just something made up by the "natural remedies" folks to sound different because its the only place I see references to STU rather then SHU... not sure if its worth mentioning in the article but if it confused me and made me go trying to look it up, im sure im not the only one wondering with that nagging question.. (only ever a nagging question when you cant find a actual answer lol) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:204:D403:D96B:25B7:544D:3665:EA7B (talk) 06:05, 11 August 2017 (UTC)
I know that Tears of Zephos has a highest rating but I'm not sure about this giving suffering from pain on my tongue. Apollo C. Quiboloy fans (talk) 04:20, 26 September 2017 (UTC)
Articles are about their subjects. This is not the article List of the most exaggerated outlandish claims of pepper hotness, whatever EV that might have. Let's leave the "world's hottest pepper" nonsense to teh Guiness folks. --Wtshymanski (talk) 22:42, 15 December 2017 (UTC)
References
--Zefr (talk) 22:53, 15 December 2017 (UTC)
Scoville heat units | Peppers |
---|---|
0.6 to 3.2 million units | Pepper X, Dragon's Breath, Naga Morich, Carolina Reaper |
0.1 to 0.6 million units | Red Savina habanero, Habanero chili, Scotch bonnet pepper, Datil pepper |
10,000 to 100,000 units | Malagueta pepper, Chiltepin pepper, Siling Labuyo, Cayenne pepper |
1,000 to 10,000 units | Guajillo pepper, 'Fresno Chili' pepper, Jalapeño, Anaheim pepper |
100 to 1,000 units | Banana pepper, Cubanelle, Pimiento |
0 - 100 | Bell pepper |
The maximum number of pungency units for capsaicin is 1,000,000 (because pungency units are parts per million of capsaicin). This is multiplied by 16 (not 15) to get SHU.
Here are some references: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1170759263?pq-origsite=gscholar https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/archive/chemmatters-dec2013-pepper.pdf https://sizes.com/units/scoville_unit.htm
Also, look at the page itself, under the heading "Capsaicinoids". It states that the SHU score of pure capsaicin is 16,000,000, confirming the reference above.
The number 15 is for dihydroxycapsaicin, not capsaicin itself. Again confirmed on the actual article page.
Marchino61 (talk) 05:00, 10 April 2018 (UTC)
I don't understand. Just above your message I gave three sources which state that the value accepted now is 16, one of which is peer-reviewed and published in 2008, i.e. 13 years later than the source in Hort. Science that you refer to. The value of 16 also agrees with the values given in the last section of the article, which clearly states that pure capsaicin has an SHU of 16,000,000 (not 15,000,000). Either I am wrong, or that last section is wrong. At the moment the article is internally inconsistent. Marchino61 (talk) 06:07, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
It's ridiculous to not include a good amount of examples for the scoville scale. It's completely relevant to the article. It's not as if the article is very large. Wikipedia is supposed to be a database of information, a place where people go to know new things. Alex of Canada (talk) 02:37, 8 July 2018 (UTC)
How is a Scoville measurement actually done today? The definition of the scale seems to say it's the dilution at which a panel of tasters agrees they can detect spicy heat. This is different from someone globbing a sample in his mouth and saying "That tastes like 13,571 units". I would imagine no-one this century has convened a panel of tasters to use the dilution method when HPLC is readily available. But would that be correct? --Wtshymanski (talk) 19:49, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
I am removing the incorrect primary source, Guzmán and Bosland (2017). These fools cite a paper which, if you actually read it, gives a different number. Heaviside glow (talk) 20:36, 31 July 2019 (UTC)
Please note that this article receives just under 2 million pageviews a year, so it behooves editors to make sure that the page is correct. Heaviside glow (talk) 19:18, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
The article contradicts itself. In some places, it says that it applies only to capsaicin spiciness from hot chilis (measured either organoleptically or analytically). In other places, it says or implies that it applies to other kinds of spiciness, such as that from black pepper (piperine), mustard, Szechuan pepper, horseradish, ginger (shogaol), etc. In addition, some of the article about those foods include Scoville ratings. Can we clarify this? --Macrakis (talk) 20:35, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
I don't want to hurt its feelings , but this table doesn't seem all that useful. It's based on Wilbur Scoville's flawed test and also somehow fails to account for the possibility of a pepper with between 70,000 and 80,000 Scoville Heat Units. I like the idea of a more visually appealing way of understanding the scale using practical examples, but feel this is much better achieved by the image of the pepper stand in Houston. I would like to know if people think I should remove this table, or maybe try to replace it, or just fix the fact that it unnecessarily links to this secondary article which is just quoting a random book which I think could be cited instead.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:bb6:47a9:2600:edf2:227d:32f8:e31e (talk • contribs) 01:19, September 1, 2021 (UTC)
Well, thank you for your response, but I've no idea how to fix this.
Cited on Wikipedia is an article, which I will hereafter refer to as "The Molecules Thing", which is about chili consumption in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and just casually quotes the information made into this table. (The information made into this table is hereafter referred to as, "The Bane of My Existence"). The Molecules Thing cites the information as coming from a book called Spice Crops By E. A. Weiss.
A preview of Spice Crops By E. A. Weiss containing the The Bane of My Existence and including the same numerical error is available on Google Books. This version is incomplete and I don't believe it states where these numbers are coming from. I'm not paying €176.10 in order to purchase a hardback copy of Spice Crops By E. A. Weiss and I have to doubt that whoever put The Bane of My Existence here didn't do that either.
Through googling I have found several other instances of people using The Bane of My Existence, almost always with the same error, but cannot find it's original source. I found one version that corrected the error to suggest that Highly Pungent ends at 80,000 SHU, but it didn't link to anything.
Ldiøtic (talk) 14:21, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
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Add page to the Scales category.
The Pyruvate scale is listed in the Scales Category page, but the Scoville Scale is not. Zhynn (talk) 17:58, 28 October 2021 (UTC)
I miss the concrete procedure. Would it work like this?
Step 1, Reference: Prepare an initial solution "R1" of pure capsaicin of mass m1 (e.g. 10 g) in 96% ethanol and dilute to volume V1 (e.g. 250 ml) in a volumetric flask.
Make dilutions with sugarwater:
25 ml of R1 diluted to 250 ml will give you R10, a 10x dilution of R1. 25 ml of R10 diluted to 250 ml will give you R100, a 10x dilution of R10. 50 ml of R100 diluted to 100 ml will give you R200, a 2x dilution of R100.
SI suffix terminology: R2500=R2.5k, R50,000,000=R50M
Starting with higher dilutions, work to lower dilutions till your board of human sensors disagrees, possibly going back to lower dilutions if your sensors agree it's spicy. That final dilution, e.g. R20M is 16 MSCO (or whatever you want pure capsaicin to be).
Step 2, Sample: Do a soxhlet extraction of m1 (air?) dried chili powder/flakes (with seeds?), dilute to V1 and find the final solution as in step 1. If your final reference dilution is R20M and your final sample dilution is S10M, then your sample has 16M/20M*10M=8MSCO.
HPLC may be more accurate for capsaicin, but only humann can tell how hot other capsaicinoids and other substances are. Darsie42 (talk) 11:41, 1 November 2021 (UTC)
I've heard a rumor about an artificial pepper that is around 3,000,000 scoville units 108.228.172.26 (talk) 05:51, 31 December 2022 (UTC)
what do you think? Lena Key (talk) 18:01, 4 November 2023 (UTC)