Scoville scale
The Scoville scale has existed since 1912 and was invented by the American pharmacologist Wilbur Scoville. It is used to determine the severity of fruits of the genus Capsicum, which includes peppers and chiles. Originally, the Scoville scale is based on the so-called Scoville Organoleptic Test developed by Wilbur Scoville. A sample of a chilli was prepared and diluted with water until the test samples no longer felt any sharpness. The degree at which the subjects (subjectively) could not taste any more in the sample, was referred to as SHU (scoville heat units) or scoville grade. Today, of course, no subjective tests are carried out.
Determination of the sharpness of chiles
The degree of sharpness of a chili is today determined by means of modern high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This method recognizes the capsaicinoids responsible for the sharpness, such as capsaicin and dihydro-capsaicin, and reliably determines their concentration. The result of an HPLC test is given in ASTA degree of sharpness, but this can be converted to the usual SHU value by a formula.
( (C) by wildcapsicum.org )
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