Chilli Pepper & Sweet Pepper Heat Guide

The official measure of a chilli’s heat is the Scoville Heat Unit (SHU). Originally this was calculated by testing the number of drops of sugar water required to make the heat from one drop of the chilli undetectable to the human mouth; nowadays things are bit more scientific and measurements are usually made using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), but still the Scoville Heat Unit is the unit of measure.

When using the table below, it is worth remembering...

• Chilli heat levels can vary greatly due to climatic conditions, growing methods and time of year (ripeness) - from ‘disappointingly cool’ to ‘surprisingly hot’!
• Different people have a different perception to heat of chillies (thermoception).
• Additionally, due to the complex compounds that make up the heat in chillies and the way different people’s senses of heat, smell and taste react to them, it is not uncommon for people to find some varieties feel hotter than they actually are - i.e. they might find a Hot Wax hotter than a Cayenne when it should be the other way round.
• It is a 'half truth' that leaving the seeds of your Chillies in will make the fruits hotter; the seeds themselves contain absolutely no capsaicinoids (the active heat ingredient) - but the placental tissue that holds these seeds in position does. So removing seeds and the tissue that holds them in place will reduce heat, but if it were physically possible to remove just the seed without the placental tissue it would make no difference at all.

Accordingly we always recommend you exercise caution when picking and tasting your crop for the first time, or when fruits have been allowed to mature further.

Sweet 0 SHU’s	Marconi, NuMex Garnet, Rainbow Blend
Cool 500 - 1000 SHU’s	NuMex Suave Orange, NuMex Suave Red
Mild 1000 - 5000 SHU’s	Ancho, NuMex Heritage Big Jim
Medium 5000 - 15,000 SHU’s	Christmas Bell, Jalapeño Hercules, Hungarian Hot Wax, Jalapeño NuMex Primavera, Rodeo, Serrano
Medium Hot 15,000 - 30,000 SHU’s	Joe's Long Cayenne, NuMex Twilight, Peter Pepper, Pinocchio’s Nose, Ring Of Fire
Hot 30,000 - 50,000 SHU’s	Ají Limon, Ají Omnicolor, Cayenne (Red), Tabasco
Extremely Hot 50,000 - 100,000 SHU’s	Chiltepin, NuMex Piñata
Ridiculously Hot 100,000 - 350,000 SHU’s	Scotch Bonnet, Orange Habanero
Ferociously Hot 350,000 - 600,000 SHU’s	Red Savina, Habanero Caribbean Red
Outrageously Hot 600,000 - 1,000,000 SHU’s	Naga Morich, Trinidad Scorpion
Volcanic 1,000,000 + SHU’s	Bhut Jolokia