On Oct 27, 9:18*am, James Silverton >
wrote:
> Today's "word of the day" *in the online Oxford English Dictionary is
> "Scoville" as in the heat measure for peppers. This was once a test done
> by diluting capsaicin solution until a board of tasters said that its
> heat reached the level of the pepper in question. Pure capsaicin is
> supposed to be 15,000,000 Scoville units. I wonder how on earth they
> measured that?

They could purify, then dilute, but capsaicin is just one of 5 related
compounds. Different chilies have different balances of them, and
that can give their "heat" a different character. I chilies to be a
food group.

> --
>
> James Silverton, Potomac
>
--Bryan