Hi Bob,

You said "Searched a bit but didn't find what I'm looking for".

I guess the question is 'what are you looking for?' lol. There are lots of websites out there with Scoville lists, like this one or this one or this one. Some are more current/complete than others.

You were close. But it was a list of about 200 different varieties, their SHU rating, where they are from and other info.

One of those lists seems way off btw. Thai Dragon at 75-150k? I don't think so. But that was closest to what I was looking for. Spare me the xxx hot sauces and extracts. The label tells me how hot they are.

I'm really looking for the SHU rating of a "Bonbero" pepper. I had two in some pasta and it whooped my ass. Got hiccups and everything.

-HabBob

And another

Here is a link that might be useful: SHU

With information like the following, how are you to make heads or tails of a real rating

Tepin (Wild)
100,000 ~ 265,000

White Fire, Chiltepin, Tepin, Yatsufusa 40,000 - 70,000

Chiltepin, Chinese Kwangsi, Rocoto, Santaka, Thai (100,000) Hot-Extreme
50,000-100,000

How picante any chile is is very dependent on climate, growing conditions and about 300 other variables.

A single picante number under these conditions is only given by the foolhardy.

"A single picante number under these conditions is only given by the foolhardy."

This is true, but the range lets us know what kind of potential a pepper has in the heat category. For example a jalapeno is never going to break 20k SHU. Meanwhile a habanero under the worst circumstances will never drop below 100k SHU (probably more).

"With information like the following, how are you to make heads or tails of a real rating"

I've noticed this too. There is a lot of misinformation out there. Maybe this forum could combine heads and make an accurate SHU listing.

-HabBob

Naga Jolokia Tezpur. ~1.4mil SHU (max reported for that pepper that I know of, having scanned the net in quite a limited and cursory manner)

Damn fine looking pepper too. I have considered growing some, but seriously, what in the hells will I use them for?

I might still order some seeds, but the end product will probably be hotsauce or pickled peppers, as I really abhor being stuck on the crapper for a week. ;-)

I am not educationally "qualified" to posit much regarding botany, but I think the best (yet most logistically challenging) method of determining SHU range for a specific pepper might be to gather a number of fresh specimens grown in a variety of climates/terrians/etc.. from evenly distributed global locations, then average their SHU.

Until something of that scale has been done, could any arbitrarily compiled list be truly "accurate"? That would need some serious funding..

Just a thought.

ian

Naga Jolokia Tezpur. ~1.4mil SHU (max reported for that pepper that I know of, having scanned the net in quite a limited and cursory manner)

Damn fine looking pepper too. I have considered growing some, but seriously, what in the hells will I use them for?

I might still order some seeds, but the end product will probably be hotsauce or pickled peppers, as I really abhor being stuck on the crapper for a week. ;-)

I am not educationally "qualified" to posit much regarding botany, but I think the best (yet most logistically challenging) method of determining SHU range for a specific pepper might be to gather a number of fresh specimens grown in a variety of climates/terrians/etc.. from evenly distributed global locations, then average their SHU.

Until something of that scale has been done, could any arbitrarily compiled list be truly "accurate"? That would need some serious funding..

Just a thought.

ian

Agreed. Even if you could do it on a national scale I think it would be helpful. Fieldermeister is in Maine. I'm as far south and west as you can get without crossing the border. I have the better climate and the garden looks great, but he puts me to shame. I'd love to see how our peppers stacked up heat wise.

This forum would be useful for that. There's people from everywhere here. If we could all grow one variety of pepper and get them tested each year.... it would only take 600 some odd years. Not really, but there's a lot of peppers out there.

I'm getting motivated to work on this. Can anyone test for SHU?

-HabBob

SHU requires a special machine, test standards, and special training.

Tezpur is a good example of folks not knowing how to use the machine. NMSU said the Tezpur was around 87K in the same ballpark as cayanne

So if I wanted a particular pepper tested, I would do it how? Send it to NM? Anyone ever done something like that?
c.

Carol,

My guess is the Dr Paul Bosland at NMSU would prolly do it for about $250

Byron

BTW HABBOB there are over 6,000 named chiles and over 4,000 unnamed

No do not send seeds, send whole pods, there is 0 heat in the seeds