Scoville Heat Index
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.
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[…] that it comes into contact with. Different chili peppers contain varying amounts of capsaicin (see Scoville heat scale). Capsaicin is mostly found inside the core of the pepper pod as well as on the external skin. It […]