1912

Scoville scale

• Tabasco sauce is pungent,
• between two and a half and five thousand Scoville heat units.
• A jalapeño pepper is spicy,
• between one and ten thousand Scoville heat units.
• A habanero chili pepper is even hotter,
• between one and four hundred thousand Scoville heat units.
• Your eyes water, you sweat,
• you’re in pain,
• and it grows worse
• the longer it stays in your mouth.
• Wilbur Scoville dissolved dried pepper in alcohol
• and progressively diluted smaller amounts with sugar water.
• The Scoville unit is the number of cups of sugar water that it takes
• until a panel of tasters can not detect the heat in it.
• Today, food scientists measure
• the number of parts per million
• of capsaicinoids in a pepper
• and multiply that by 16 to get the Scoville heat unit.

Heat agents

• Chili pepper contains capsaicin and other capsaicinoids.
• Black pepper contains piperine.
• Sichuan pepper contains hydroxy alpha sanshool.
• Ginger contains gingerol.
• Cinnamon contains cinnamaldehyde.
• Horseradish, mustard, and wasabi contain glucosinolates.
• One advantage of an organoleptic test
• is that it could give a fair rating for any hot substance;
• however, the Scoville scale was designed and is used
• only for peppers that contain capsaicinoids.

Organoleptic test

• The first bite tests only the breadth.
• It doesn’t shine much of a light.
• What would it do on its own?
• How would it work with a variety
• of experiences, hot or cold,
• sweet and savory, nobody can tell
• without rapelling into its infernal depths.