SCOVILLE UNIT MEASURING was invented in 1912 by Wilbur L. Scoville, a pharmacologist for the Parke- Davis Company. Willie’s original test consisted of a panel of tasters who would systematically taste for detectable “heat” in a solution of extract of chile and slightly sweetened water. The idea was to determine how far the chile extract could be diluted and still have a detectable burn. For example, a Jalapeno pepper rated at 4,500 Scoville units tells us that 4,500 parts sugar water are needed to dilute one part Jalapeno extract to the last point that hotness can be tasted. Add any more sugar water and according to this subjective test, you would not be able to taste any hotness.

Confused? You bet you are! That is why the food industry no longer uses this archaic test, but chile heat is still given in Scoville units. Today, machines use high- pressure liquid chromatography to measure chile heat. This method takes out the guess work, but one should keep in mind that it only rates the heat of the sample being tested, and not the absolute fire power of every chile in that variety. Climate, soil, weather, geography and harvest time all affect how hot a pepper can be. Heck, even chiles on the same bush can have different heat levels.

SO, when you’re trying to grasp how hot that Red Savina is at 500,000 Scoville units, think of this: If you took a beer can full of Red Savina pepper extract and poured it into a large vat (it must be a very large vat), it would take 500,001 beers to dilute the extract to the point where there was no heat tasted. A bit mind boggling, isn’t it?

Peppers of Key West has a variety of hot sauces that range from mild to HOT, you determine how hot you can handle.