Re: [CH] Thai's vs. Habs
John Lilly (John.C.Lilly-1@ou.edu)
Tue, 27 Jan 1998 09:14:56 -0600
Kevin Crooks wrote:
>
> Has anyone read this months' issue of Organic Gardening? There is a CH
> article. In a sidebar a guy named Craig Dremann claims that Southeast
> Asian peppers are usually twice as hot as habs. His testing method
> involves blending a weighed amount of peppers, deseeded in a weighed amount
> of water. Using the syringe add the mixture drop by drop into a weighed
> amount of tomato juice unitl you can detect the hotness of the pepper. He
> calls this the "hotness threshold". Claims that because habs have few
> seeds, and most test methods includes the seeds, the hab gets an advantage.
His claim about habs having the test advantage due to lack of seeds
doesn't
make sense to me. I had always heard that most of the heat was in the
seeds,
veins, and placenta. I am surprized that he used water in his test. I
wouldn't
think that the capsaicins(sp?) would be very soluble in water. Also,
the
solubility would vary depending on the capsaicin. IMO, some form of
alcohol
would be better.
> Questions? Comments? Flames? Is this guy full of it or does he have a
> point. IMHO the hab is still hotter. The burn is more complex. I find
> most Asian hot peppers to be sharper. Bottom line, I don't get the
> endorphin rush with Thai hots that I get with Habs.
I think he is full of it. As a chemist, I will stick by the Scoville
ratings.
The results seem a lot less subjective. In any case I would invite
Craig Dremann
to try the REAL test. Take a BIG bite of each type of pepper and then
decide which one is the hottest. ;)
In El Grande's Service
John Lilly