Scoville scale
The Scoville scale is a scale for estimating the spiciness of fruits of the pepper plant . The Scoville test (original name Scoville Organoleptic Test ) is based on the Scoville scale, which was developed in 1912 by the pharmacologist Wilbur L. Scoville . Initially, the degree of severity was determined indirectly and purely subjectively , but today it can also be determined by measurement . The value depends on the proportion of capsaicin contained in the dried fruit , an alkaloid that irritates the pain receptors of the mucous membranes and thus triggers the sensation of sharpness.
Original Scoville method
Wilbur L. Scoville, in his article in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, described a procedure for determining capsaicin levels by diluting and tasting. Subjects were asked to taste an increasingly diluted solution of the sample to be examined and to say whether they could determine the sharpness or not. The degree of dilution at which the sharpness could no longer be determined was given as the Scoville degree (SCU for Scoville Units , also: SHU for Scoville Heat Units ). Peppers without any noticeable heat have Scoville grade 0, pure capsaicin corresponds to 16,000,000 Scoville. However, the process described in this way had some significant limitations: On the one hand, every person has a different tolerance to capsaicin, on the other hand, this tolerance threshold is raised by constant consumption of capsaicin. Thus, it is not only the selection of the test persons that is decisive for the result, but also how many individual tests have already been carried out with a single test person.
In simple terms, the relationship between the liquid to be determined and the liquid used for dilution (usually water) is determined. This means that z. B. 16 million ml (= 16 m³ = 16,000 liters) of water are required for 1 milliliter of pure capsaicin in order to no longer determine any sharpness.
Sources of error in determining the Scoville grade
Many measurements - especially the record measurements - of Scoville degrees have been questioned. For example, the measurement of 855,000 Scoville units in a fruit of the Naga Jolokia variety was generally questioned by Indian scientists, and there is no precise evidence for the measurement of 577,000 Scoville units in the Habanero variety Red Savina .
It is important from which part of the plant the samples were taken, as significantly more capsaicin is stored in the placenta than, for example, in the pulp. The seeds of the chilli do not contain capsaicin, but are in direct contact with the extremely hot placenta, so that they are also often described as having a hot taste. Since even fruits from one and the same plant can differ considerably in terms of their hotness, a correspondingly large population of examined fruits and plants is necessary for a meaningful determination.
Procedure used today
The method used today to determine sharpness is high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This method identifies and measures e.g. B. the concentration of the various capsaicinoids that produce heat or heat. The percentage of the two most common capsaicin compounds (capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin) and, occasionally, nordihydrocapsaicin are measured. The measurements of the individual chemicals are weighted with regard to their relative sharpness or heat generation.
Due to the familiarity of the Scoville scale, the results of the HPLC, which are actually given in sharpness units of the American Spice Trade Association (ASTA), are usually converted into the Scoville reference system. However, the conversion is only approximately accurate and the tendency is for Scoville values that are too low.
Other scales for indicating sharpness
Since there are different proportions of the different capsaicinoids in different chilli varieties and, due to differences in sensitivity to these capsaicinoids, the actual perception of spiciness does not necessarily match the Scoville value, there are other scales to indicate the spiciness of chillies.
A fairly common scale, which probably originates from Mexico , is a subjectively determined classification into whole numbers from 1 to 10. The heat of fresh chilli, chilli powders and sauces as well as spice mixtures is often given with these values. In order to enable even more accuracy and differentiation options, the values are partially supplemented with "+". For some Habanero species the heat is given as “10 ++”. A specification of higher degrees of severity, such as pure capsaicin, is not possible with this scale and also does not make sense, since extremely high capsaicin concentrations cannot be distinguished from humans.
The Pepper Hotness Scale or Dremann Hotness Scale , which Craig C. Dremann developed in 1984, has a similar structure to the Scoville scale . The scale describes the relationship between the amount of salsa and the amount of chillies used in it, so that there is just a noticeable degree of spiciness. Because of this definition, the scale is only of culinary interest, but is only rarely used here.
Among other things, in restaurants and on the packaging of some foods you can find various other, mostly fictitious scales. Usually, increasing heat is represented by a higher number of chilies shown. The display is partially supported by the different colors. For example, one green chilli can be considered mild , two yellow chillies as moderately hot and three red chillies as hot .
Degree of spiciness of a chilli fruit
Most of the information about the spiciness of a chilli variety either gives a typical range or, in the case of record reports, is usually only a maximum number. The spiciness of an individual variety can hardly be specified exactly. Many factors such as light, water, soil and harvest time determine the amount of capsaicin in a chili "pod". This can go so far that extremely hot varieties such as Habaneros grown under sunlight no longer show any perceptible heat when grown in the greenhouse in winter. Even chilli fruits harvested from the same plant at the same time can have different degrees of spiciness.
Overview of some Scoville degrees
Unless otherwise stated, the chilli varieties belong to the most widespread species C. annuum .
| Scoville degree | example |
|---|---|
| 0 | no heat, no capsaicin contained |
| 0-10 | Sweet peppers |
| 100-500 | Hot peppers |
| 1,000-10,000 | Sambal |
| 2,500-5,000 | Tabasco sauce (from a C. frutescens -Chili-breeding) |
| 2,500-8,000 | Jalapeño chili |
| 30,000-50,000 | pure cayenne pepper ( C. annuum * ) & chili rawit |
| 50,000-100,000 | Piri-piri ( C. frutescens variety), Tepin chili |
| 100,000-200,000 | common pepper spray against humans (0.67 to 1.33% capsaicinoids) |
| 150,000-300,000 | conventional pepper spray to bear defense (1.0 to 2.0% of capsaicinoids) |
| 100,000-350,000 | Habaneros ( C. chinense variety) |
| 577,000 | alleged measurement in the habanero breed Red Savina |
| 855,000 | alleged measurement of the variety "Indian PC-1" ( C. frutescens breeding) |
| 923,000 | alleged measurement of the variety Dorset Naga ( C. chinense cultivation) |
| 1,000,000 | Measurement of the variety Bhut Jolokia ( C. chinense variety ** ) |
| 1,400,000 | Measurement of the Trinidad Scorpion Butch Taylor variety |
| 2,000,000 | Measurement of the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion variety |
| 2,200,000 | Measurement of the Carolina Reaper variety |
| 2,480,000 | alleged measurement of the Dragon's Breath variety |
| 3,180,000 | Measurement of the Pepper X variety |
| 7,100,000 | The Source, for a long time the hottest chili sauce in the world |
| 9,000,000 | Mad Dog 357 No.9 Plutonium, the hottest chili sauce in the world |
| 16,000,000 | Blair's 16 Million Reserve , Pure Capsaicin (Crystals) |
* In the literature, C. frutescens species are sometimes described as belonging to the cayenne chili.
** A genetic analysis found eight markers that speak for C. chinense , but also three markers that speak for C. frutescens .
See also
literature
- Margaret Collins: Measuring chile pungency . NMSU Guide H-237. New Mexico State University, 1994.
- Ritesh Mathur, R. S. Dangi, S. C. Dass, and R. C. Malhotra: The Hottest Chilli Variety in India. In: Current Science. Vol. 79, No. 3, August 10, 2000 (English; PDF, 2 pages, 32 kB ).
- Wilbur L. Scoville: Note on Capsicums . In: The Journal of the American Pharmacists Association . Vol. 1, No. 5, 1912, pp. 453-454 (Eng.).
Web links
- Scoville-scale (English)
- Scoville Skala (German)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Govindarajan, Sathyanarayana: Capsicum - Production, Technology, Chemistry, and Quality. Part V. Impact on Physiology, Pharmacology, Nutrition, and Metabolism; Structure, Pungency, Pain, and Desensitization Sequences . In: Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition . tape 29 , no. 6 , 1991, pp. 435-474 (English).
- ↑ Donna R. Tainter, Anthony T. Grenis: Spices and Seasonings . Wiley-IEEE, 2001, ISBN 0-471-35575-5 , p. 30: "Interlab variation [for the original Scoville scale] could be as high as + / - 50%. However, labs that run these procedures could generate reasonably repeatable results. "
- ↑ Information about the chilli variety Piquin on fiery-foods.com ( Memento of the original from June 27, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English).
- ↑ Sydney: 1.4 million Scoville, that's a record for chili peppers
- ↑ Trinidad Moruga Scorpion named world's hottest pepper (engl.)
- ↑ World's hottest pepper is grown in South Carolina (Engl.)
- ↑ World's hottest chilli pepper created in Wales to be used as an anesthetic after doctors warn eating it will KILL you. The Sun . May 17, 2017, accessed September 18, 2017 .
