HOT SAUCE HQ

The Scoville scale is used to rate the hotness of chilies: Mild red bell peppers rate a zero all the way up to habaneros at over 100,000 heat units. The heat that peppers impart comes from an alkaloid compound called capsaicin, which is manufactured in the ribs of the chili pepper. Capsaicin itself doesn't have any flavor; it stimulates the pain receptors in your mouth rather than your taste buds. The way to really keep the heat down is to remove these spongy inner parts. The seeds usually absorb capsaicin from resting near the ribs, so it's best to remove those, too.

 A Scoville unit is used to specify the hotness of a food, specifically chili peppers. In 1912 Wilbur Scoville, devised a system to determine how hot foods are. He used a panel of tasters to provide heat scores for different peppers. Although we still use Wilbur's name for the unit, the current method is much more scientific.

Mild red bell peppers rate a zero all the way up to habaneros at over 100,000 heat units. The heat that peppers impart comes from an alkaloid compound called capsaicin, which is manufactured in the ribs of the chili pepper. Capsaicin itself doesn't have any flavor; it stimulates the pain receptors in your mouth rather than your taste buds. The way to really keep the heat down is to remove these spongy inner parts. The seeds usually absorb capsaicin from resting near the ribs, so it's best to remove those, too.

As shown on the table below, Scovilles vary widely from one pepper to the next. There are also variations of heat from one pepper to the next within the same species; growing conditions, soil and other factors have an affect on the amount of capsaicin within a given pepper.