HORT 105 - Hot Pepper Lab

This semester, I'm taking a Horticulture class (HORT 105 - Intro to Veg Gardening). As you may guess, this is not part of my major. I've got plenty of credit hours to spare, so I'm taking this last year to take some classes that are really out there...just for kicks.

I've always wanted to learn more about vegetable gardening since... ONE) my mom harvests a garden full of veggies every year, TWO) I'm a huge veggie eater.... so why not learn more about this! 

We're currently learning about peppers, and so we had a pepper lab. 

The Lab

Taste a variety of peppers to test how much heat can you handle.

The Peppers

All pepper cultivars/varieties are a part of the Capsicum annuum species, which produce capsaicin oil. This is the substance that makes peppers hot!! Because the spiciness is from an oil, that's why water is not an ideal fix. If your mouth is on fire from eating a spicy pepper, drink some milk or eat some peanut butter because the fats/oils in those products will negate the capsaicin oil's hotness.

As you can see from the above picture, the capsaicin glands are near the ridges of the cut pepper, also where the seeds are. The hottest parts of a pepper are the inner ridges. The mildest are toward the bottom of the pepper. 

Scoville Units

Hotness is measured in Scoville units. What does this mean? It's the amount of sugar water needed until it's not hot anymore. 

Green Bell Pepper - 0 Scovilles

Anaheim - 500 to 2000 Scovilles <-- I died at this level.

Jalapeño - 3500 to 8000 Scovilles

Habanero - 200 thousand to 350 thousand

Bhut Jolokia - 1 million

Pure Capsaicin - 15 million <--Don't touch this!