Red Hot Chili Peppers

Chili peppers from all over the world have a heat rating that is based on a design by Wilbur L Scoville, a pharmacologist who came up with the idea in 1912; it was very simply done by diluting a small amount of the pepper in a drop of alcohol and placing the mixture onto a volunteer’s tongue, if they could detect any heat the mixture was diluted in a measure of sugar water then tested again. The dilution is repeated until the volunteer can not taste any heat at all, the

Chili Heat Scale
	Scoville Units	Pepper Type
10	100000 - 350000	Habanero, Scotch Bonnet
9	50000 - 100000	Santake, Thai
8	30000 - 50000	Cayenne, Tabasco, Piquin
7	15000 - 30000	Serrano, Chile de Arbol
6	5000 - 15000	Yellow Wax, Serrano
5	2500 - 5000	Jalapeno (up to 10,000), Miasol
4	1500 - 2500	Sandia, Cascabel
3	1000 - 1500	Ancho (Poblano), Pasilla, Espanola
2	500 - 1000	Anaheim, New Mexico
1	100 - 500	Mexi-bells, Cherries
0	0 - 100	Mild Bells, Sweet Bananas, Pimento

pepper’s heat rating is based on how many times it has to be diluted in this way until there is no detectable heat; for instance, diluting in 50 measures (drops) of water would mean the pepper has a rating of 50 Scoville units. The same principles are used today under laboratory conditions, with machines instead of volunteers, to rate chilies. To give you some idea of just how hot some of the higher rated chilies are: Jalapeno Peppers, well known in Mexican restaurants and home cooking in Mexico, are rated at 2500-5000 Scoville units; the Jalapeno is considered a mid-range chili. Tabasco and Cayenne peppers have a rating of 30,000-50,000 Scoville units. The Habanero can reach heats of up to 500,000 Scoville units. The current record high for an actual pepper is 855,000 Scoville units; but a concentrated sample of pure capsaicin, a crystalline alkaloid and the active principle that causes the heat in chile peppers, is rated at 16 million Scoville units, while the Bell pepper can have a rating of zero.

In actual fact, the chili isn’t a pepper at all; it is a capsicum, part of the same family as sweet peppers. It is thought that Christopher Columbus made comparisons between the chili and peppercorn when he fist tasted it in the Caribbean in 1492. Red and green chili peppers are essentially the same when figuring out which is the hottest; the only difference is that the green varieties have been picked before they are ripe, which tends to give them a milder taste. The amount of capsaicin in a chili is the defining ingredient that gives a chili its heat; the higher the concentration of capsaicin, the hotter the chili, smaller chilies are often much hotter because they have a higher concentration of capsaicin-saturated tissue.

Capsaicin is well known for triggering the release of endorphins into the brain; besides behaving as a pain regulator, endorphins are also thought to be connected to physiological processes including euphoric feelings, appetite modulation, and the release of sex hormones, this effect is thought to be the cause of chili addiction. We know that people in Mexico from around 9000 years ago were the first to eat wild chilies, but no one knows what they did with them; if they used them in cooking or just ate them as they are, there’s no record of how they became widely used in this region’s culinary habits. The Cora Indians of Western Mexico, however, have their version of events; the tale goes that Narama, the first man, leapt onto a feast table and bestowed delicacies on all; not least of which came from his own testicles turned into chili pods, he danced around the table sprinkling his unique seasoning onto his fellow diners’ plates of food.

Chilies have had other uses in the past besides spicing up a meal; the Incas of Panama used to tie strings of chilies to their boats to ward off sharks and the Tarahumara people of Mexico’s Copper Canyon used them for protection against evil sorcery. Chilies have also been used as currency and modern native people still believe in the chili’s power to prevent ill health. In fact it is thought that the chili is one of the oldest medicines in the world; the Mayan people have lived in Belize since 1200 B.C. Although the period from 250 B.C. through 900 A.D. is considered the primary active period when the great cities were built, the Mayan people have never left Belize. Today, the Maya still speak Mayan as their primary language, and still practice their ancient crafts and medical doctoring; they use the chili as a remedy for asthma, sore throats, cardiovascular and digestive problems, coughs and respiratory disorders. Chopped chilies have also been used for centuries to ease arthritis pains.

Contemporary medicine in the western world still uses the chili’s main ingredient in many of its ointments for easing arthritis and muscle pains; a lot of the painkilling effect comes from the capsaicin inducing the release of endorphins, yet there is more to the plant than many doctor’s originally thought. It has being tested in other areas and it is now believed that the chili can prevent blood clotting, heart attacks, make it harder for the body to absorb cholesterol, speed up the body’s metabolism and aid digestion by increasing stomach acid. Chilies also contain a high dosage of vitamins C and A and beta-carotene, in fact there is more vitamin C in a chili than in an orange or a lemon; they are also low in fat. The cayenne pepper is found in prescription drugs; in powder, capsule, tincture and oil form, known to give relief form period pains, sore throats, cluster headaches and lack of labido.