Scoville Units...How Hot is it?

Hot pepper heat is measured by the Scoville scale. The scale measures the heat/pungency of hot peppers. The scale is based on the concentration of capsaicin, an active component of chili peppers that produces a burning sensation when it touches your tongue or skin. It was developed in 1912. What is really interested is that the heat is an subjective assessment and it is not truly a concrete way of estimating heat. A more accurate test is the high-performance liquid chromatography. When seeing how hot a pepper is you'll always find the Scoville units and never the other one.

Three of the worlds hottest peppers are Pepper X at 3,180,000 SHU, Dragon's Breath at 2,480,000, and Carolina Reaper at 1,569,300. Two of the varieties you can get seeds for is Carolina Reaper and a tamer version of the Dragon Breath. In the spring time LP Farm Store sells Carolina Reaper and Dragon Pepper seeds.

LP Farm Store grows and sells a jalapeno with no heat so a 0 on the Scoville scale. The Padron pepper is like playing Russian roulette, 1 in 20 is hot. Habanero's range in heat depending on the color: red 300,000 to 445,000 SHU , brown 501,000 SHU, and orange 200,000-300,000 SHU.

As you can tell from the above paragraphs a lot of time peppers are given a range. This is due to the subjectiveness of the heat and growing conditions of the plants. Warm weather climates generally produce hotter peppers than cooler areas.

In conclusion go up the heat scale slowly til you find a pepper that is just below one that singes your taste buds, you breath fire, and the food has no flavor except heat.