The Scoville Rating System

I enjoy a little spice in my life and for the longest time I was really unaware of the differences between one pepper or another. There are some serious differences and that's where the Scoville Rating system comes in.

The Scoville Rating of a pepper determines the level of heat you can expect from the pepper. It breaks everything down into a chart that groups peppers within a general category. Hot, Medium, and Mild. Every RATED pepper on the market falls within those three titles.

For example, a common hot pepper such as Jalapeno falls somewhere between 2,000 and 7 or 8,000 Scoville Units. They vary wildly but you can expect a tolerable heat.

Somewhere in the middle we have the Cayenne Pepper which can climb up to 50,000 Scoville Units. That's could essentially be up to 25 times hotter than a Jalapeno pepper.

Right up at the top we have the Carolina Reaper. This pepper has an unimaginable Scoville rating of up to over 2 million. Can you imagine how spicy that is?

Always keep in mind the rating system when you're shopping for Hot Sauce. Look into which peppers are used to make the sauce and this will kind of fill you in on how hot it's going to be.

The more I learn about hot sauce the more excited I am to try and create my own. I still have a lot of tasting and feeling the burn left before I start creating but I feel like I`m already finding clues to creating the perfect hot sauce. I can't wait to try more.

HAPPY VEG