The capsicum family includes peppers from temperate to eye-popping; the more capsaicin, the hotter the pepper. Smaller peppers tend to have more zing because of the seeds-and-veins-to-flesh ratio. Capsaicin, while concentrated in peppers’ seeds and veins, is present to a lesser degree in the fruit’s flesh.
A pepper’s Scoville rating, named for pharmaceutical chemist Wilbur Scoville who devised the classic heat test, provides a temperature guide. Higher numbers are hot, hot, hot.
Scoville Unit
Peppers
350,000-500,000
Red habanero
100,000-350,000
Thai, Scotch bonnet, African birdseye, some habaneros
50,000-100,000
Chiltepin, santaka
30,000-50,000
Cayenne, piquin, tabasco
15,000-30,000
de Árbol
5,000-15,000
Serrano, aj amarillo
2,500-5,000
Jalapeño, chipotle
1,000-2,500
Ancho, guajillo, pasilla
500-1,000
New Mexican, poblano
0-100
Sweet bell, pimiento, U.S. paprika
—D.N.
