The Scoville Scale

spice · chemistry · peppers · heat

Measuring Spice. The Scoville scale tells you how many units of heat a pepper has, from mild bell peppers at zero all the way up to super intense ghost peppers and Carolina Reapers that can reach over 2 million units.

The Magic Molecule. Capsaicin is the main chemical that makes peppers taste hot and makes your mouth feel like it is on fire. The more capsaicin a pepper has, the higher its Scoville number.

Invented by a Pharmacist. A chemist named Wilbur Scoville created this test in 1912 by having people taste peppers and rate how hot they felt, which is how the scale got its name.

Getting Hotter. The hottest peppers in the world can be 400 times spicier than a jalapeño, and eating them can actually make people cry, sweat, and feel genuinely uncomfortable.

How Scientists Test It. Today, scientists use special chemistry tests to measure capsaicinoids directly instead of having people taste them, making the measurements much more accurate and fair.