RE: [CH] World's hottest pepper--not the Red Savina?
Riley J. McIntire (Riley@ChileGarden.com)
Thu, 9 Jan 2003 13:49:26 -0800
> Show me the HPLC testing and we'll see...
> >
> > "Doubting Jeff"
>
> Would you trust your own tongue? Why do we need machines to tell us
> what the hottest pepper, when the purpose in the end is to eat them
> anyway?
>
> Sincerely, Craig Dremann, Redwood City Seed Co.
It might help if you consider that the Scoville scale historically _IS_ a
taste test. It's called an organoleptic test. A chile sample is diluted to
the extent that one can't sense the heat. A quick google search turned up
this link to an article by Paul Bosland:
http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/kitchen/handbooks/chile/3.html --there are
many others, quite a few by members of this list.
What you're saying is individual tasters are more accurate than a panel of
tasters (historical SHUs--Scoville Heat Units) when it's known that hplc is
more accurate than historical SHUs. Nonsense.
Using hplc (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) turns out to be more
accurate and reproducible, and can be put into direct correspondence with
the Scoville scale, ie there is a one to one (more or less) direct
monochrome increasing function relating capsaicin concentration with SHU.
So, personally, I trust my tongue to Scoville (can it, Rael! ;-) ). If
it's 2,000,000 SHU like some of the resin based sauces, I know it's hot. As
others point out, though, chiles vary, even on the same plant. This may be
causing your confusion. Some RSs _are_ less hot than, say, particular
tepins. afaik, though, on average RS are hotter than any others. If not,
hplc will convince me. Not hearsay.
I've grown Chocolate Habs that seem hotter than Red Savinas (grown next to
it). And may have been. Doesn't get them into Guinness. And really, when
I'm writhing around on the floor in pain from the heat, I can't tell the
difference very well. Scoville panels and hplc apparatus don't have that
drawback.
Hot habs,
Riley
PS Just read your last post about Choc Habs prior to sending this. If Choc
Habs are hotter, hplc will confirm it. It wouldn't surprise me.