If you enjoy spicy food, you've likely come across the Scoville Scale. This unit of measurement was developed by a pharmacist named Wilbur Scoville in 1912, and it helps to determine the level of spiciness in foods, particularly chili peppers and sauces. But where did this scale come from, and how is it actually calculated?
Origin of the Scoville Scale
The history of the Scoville Scale begins with Wilbur Scoville, an American pharmacist who worked for the pharmaceutical company Parke-Davis. In an effort to standardize the spiciness level of the peppers used in their products, Scoville developed a testing method in 1912, which would later become the Scoville Scale.
How it is Calculated
Scoville's original method involved diluting a chili solution in sugar water and then tasting it with a panel of human tasters to determine at what dilution the spiciness was no longer detectable. The dilution necessary to neutralize the spiciness is expressed in Scoville Heat Units (SHU). For example, if 1000 parts of sugar water were needed to dilute one part of the chili solution and make it undetectably spicy, it would be said that the chili had 1000 SHU on the Scoville Scale.
Over time, this subjective method was replaced by more objective methods, such as High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), which measures the concentration of capsaicin and other spicy compounds in peppers. Capsaicin is the chemical compound responsible for spiciness in peppers and is what the Scoville Scale attempts to quantify.
Range of the Scale
The range varies from 0 to 16 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU), where 0 represents non-spicy foods, such as green bell peppers, up to 16 million, which is the maximum level of spiciness.
We can find up to over 2 million SHU for the world's hottest peppers, such as the Carolina Reaper or the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. These extremely spicy peppers can cause an intense burning sensation in the mouth that can be difficult to tolerate for some people.
Applications of the Scoville Scale
The Scoville Scale is a crucial tool not only for spicy food lovers but also for the food and pharmaceutical industries. Hot sauce, processed food, and topical medication manufacturers use the Scoville Scale to maintain consistency in the spiciness level of their products.
In summary, the Scoville Scale is an invaluable tool for measuring and comparing the spiciness level of foods. Whether you're looking for a mild touch of spiciness or challenging your taste buds with an extremely spicy pepper, the Scoville Scale will help you find exactly what you're looking for. If you want to know the spiciness level of a chili pepper or sauce, click here.
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