Understanding the Scoville Scale

[Dzerzhinsky's Ghost]

I am trying to gain a firm understanding of the scale and the science behind the scale and how such things can be objectively measured. At first glance any scale measuring the intensity of a pepper or pepper based product seems like it would be wholly subjective. It is my understanding that the scale is based upon the amount of capsaicin in a given pepper or product derived thereof but is that it? Am I overthinking this? It's just literally the amount of capsaicin in a pepper or pepper based product and has nothing to do with the level of piquance subjectively felt by any given individual? Further what precisely is capsaicin, scientifically, what would this be called? Excuse my ignorance.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I'm thinking that sensitivity to capsaicin in a large enough population resembles a bell curve, with most people being clustered near the centre with a scattering of outliers on either end. I imagine the Scoville scale is calibrated using that somehow.

[Sasha]

wiki is your friend for to the point questions like these:


Scoville scale

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PepperswithscovilleCentralMarketHoustonTX.JPG ) The Scoville scale is a measurement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measurement) of the spicy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice) heat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat) (or piquance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piquance)) of a chili pepper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_pepper). The number of Scoville heat units (SHU)[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale#cite_note-0) indicates the amount of capsaicin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin) present. Capsaicin is a chemical compound (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_compound) that stimulates chemoreceptor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemoreceptor) nerve endings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerve_ending) in the skin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin), especially the mucous membranes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucous_membranes).





The scale is named after its creator, American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Scoville). His method, devised in 1912,[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale#cite_note-1) is known as the Scoville Organoleptic Test. The modern commonplace method for quantitative analysis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_analysis_%28chemistry%29) uses high-performance liquid chromatography (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-performance_liquid_chromatography), making it possible to directly measure capsaicinoid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicinoid) content.

Scoville organoleptic test

In Scoville's method, an alcohol extract of the capsaicin oil from a measured amount of dried pepper is added incrementally to a solution of sugar in water until the "heat" is just detectable by a panel of (usually five) tasters; the degree of dilution gives its measure on the Scoville scale. Thus a sweet pepper or a bell pepper, containing no capsaicin at all, has a Scoville rating of zero, meaning no heat detectable. The hottest chilis, such as habaneros (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habanero_chili) and nagas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhut_Jolokia), have a rating of 200,000 or more, indicating that their extract must be diluted over 200,000 times before the capsaicin presence is undetectable. The greatest weakness of the Scoville Organoleptic Test is its imprecision, because it relies on human subjectivity. Tasters taste only one sample per session.

High-performance liquid chromatography


Spice heat is usually measured by a method that uses high performance liquid chromatography (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_performance_liquid_chromatography) (HPLC). This identifies and measures the concentration of heat-producing chemicals. The measurements are used in a mathematical formula that weights (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weighted_average) them according to their relative capacity to produce a sensation of heat. This method yields results, not in Scoville units, but in American Spice Trade Association (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_Spice_Trade_Association&action=edit&redlink=1) (ASTA) pungency units. A measurement of one part capsaicin per million corresponds to about 15 Scoville units, and the published method says that ASTA pungency (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pungency) units can be multiplied by 15 and reported as Scoville units. This conversion is approximate, and spice experts Donna R. Tainter and Anthony T. Grenis say that there is consensus that it gives results about 20–40% lower than the actual Scoville method would have given. Results vary widely, up to 50%, between laboratories.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale#cite_note-tainter-2)