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SHU - What does the number really mean?

natureman

natureman

So, I bought a bottle of mad dog 357. It's rated 357K SHU (duh). The thing is, how much of it would actually equal 357K. It's not like you can give someone a mL, and someone else a whole bottle to drink and say it's 357K. I know SHU is measured in HPLC by ppm - but for a sauce what does the SHU really mean.
 
1 unit is equivalant to needing one gallon of water to totally drown the heat. So 357K would require 357,000 gallons of water before the heat is totally dispursed and unnoticable.
 
HMm, that's not really what I'm asking. Like you know how you'd have a say a savina rated at 350K, the amount of capsaicins in that would be equal to the same volume of sauce in a 350K sauce?
 
The way I understand it is...it is strictly a ratio...

from tabasco.com

So how did Scoville discover these heat levels? His method was simple. He soaked each different variety of pepper separately in alcohol overnight. Because capsaicin is soluble in alcohol, the soaking extracted the pungent chemicals from the pod. Then Scoville took any measure of the extract and added sweetened water in incremental portions until he detected a level of heat on his tongue. For example, in the case of Japan chiles, it took sweetened water in volumes between 20,000 to 30,000 times the pepper extract before the heat level was not noticeable. He thus rated the Japan chiles 20,000 to 30,000 Scoville Heat Units.

to me, this means that if you have 1 ml of the sauce/pepper/whatever and it is rated at 357K SHU, it will take 357,000 ml of water before you can't taste the heat....
 
depend with sauce if the test it wet mass or dry mass, if they dry the sauce and then test it... the result is false ask the extract guys about that one.
 
Here ya go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_Heat_Unit

IMO, extract stuff "feels" hotter because it hits RIGHT NOW...but I prefer the big, nasty, painful, loonnngggg burn of the Nagas. Or the sweet, powerful hit of a Fatali.

You take a sauce with say, fresh birdseyes, habs, and nagas..and you have a full-range burn...top to bottom, fast, hard, and with lasting vengence.

Hot is good, hot with flavor is better.
 
QuadShotz said:
Hot is good, hot with flavor is better.
Click to expand...

Isn't that true! I couldn't agree more. A meal that'll burn my mouth, make me sweat and remind me of it the next day by making hatch 2 hurt is fine, but pretty useless without a good flavor. Some may think different, but I eat to enjoy not to suffer!
 
stillmanz said:
depend with sauce if the test it wet mass or dry mass, if they dry the sauce and then test it... the result is false ask the extract guys about that one.
Click to expand...

agree totally with you Stillz...if you have a sauce that is say 200K SHU and you "cook it down" to a powder, it is going to concentrate the capsaicin, therefore you are not testing the same sauce anymore...
 
thats right and to my understanding Tabasco co are one of the few companies that wet mass test there product. Apparently it is far cheaper and easier to test dry mass. hence many many false readings out there.
 
The 357 has a slightly misleading label, too. It says "Made with 6 million scoville extract" (or sth like that), I'm sure this has led a good number of people to believe that the sauces has actual 6 million SHUs.
 
exatly
its a scam and then they don't have to worry about flavour as they are just in it to mess people up.

I mean every sauce company should have something wickedly hot but they should have some that is tasty too. I believe in balance.
but maybe thats just melol. I'm yet to make my first million so maybe don't listen to me. lol
 
Scoville ratings are often not accurate anyways. Remember the story about Blair sending in different samples for testing and getting different results and then revealing that all the samples were from the same sauce.
 
POTAWIE said:
Scoville ratings are often not accurate anyways. Remember the story about Blair sending in different samples for testing and getting different results and then revealing that all the samples were from the same sauce.
Click to expand...
That was CaJohn.
 
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