The most commonly known method of measuring the heat level of a chili pepper is the Scoville Organoleptic Test. This test was created by a chemist named Wilbur Scoville in 1912 during his time at Parke Davis Pharmaceutical Company. This test is a dilution-taste process. In it’s early procedures, Scoville blended pure ground chilies with a sugar-water solution and his taste testers sipped the different blends in more and more diluted concentrations until they reached the point that these “sippers” no longer burned. Scoville then gave each chili a number based on how much sugar water it took to completely dilute the heat. It takes 1,000,000 drops of water to one part chili heat to rate at 1.5 Scoville units.

    The heat in chilies is measured in units of 100, beginning with the bell pepper at zero Scoville heat units to the Habanero, which measures in at an unbelievable 300,000 Scoville units. That isn’t even the top of the heat scale. A strand of Habaneros known as the Red Savina has been tested at more than 577,000 Scoville units! But remember, heat can vary from plant to plant, variety to variety, and even season to season. We have had some very different heat levels within our own garden.

    The Scoville process measures the heat in chilies called capsaicin. That’s where the heat comes in. This heat is concentrated in the veins of the fruit (yes, chilies are a fruit). This capsaicin stimulates your nerve endings, which make your brain feel like you are in pain. This pain is known as an endorphin rush, because of the endorphins that your brain releases