Hello everybody, if you have ever wondered how hot one of your peppers really is on the Scoville Heat Scale, I have found a great Lab that conducts HPLC testing to determine SHU. This may have been mentioned elsewhere on here and if it is I apologize.
The name of the lab is Southwest Bio-Labs, Inc they are located in Las Cruces, NM. Here is part of an email exchange I had with Mike Swickard who works there. And what they charge is fairly cheap compared to what I was expecting
Hi Vincent,
Yes, we analyze for chili for Scoville Heat Unit.
We charge $50 per sample for the analysis. We need the sample pureed or in a powder form. We can do that here, but there is then a prep charge. If you have whole fresh pods then we need about a quart baggie full as we need enough to actually get the pods to puree. For dried pods or flake we again need enough to grind, enough to give us about a half a cup of powder. If you have the product already in this form we only need about a tablespoon full of dried powder or ¼ cup of wet product. The prep charge is an additional $11.
If you are associated with a company we can bill you, if not we can take a check on a US bank, there is no tax if you are not in New Mexico. We are not set up to take credit cards.
You can call me at 575-524-8917 ext 1002.
Samples can be sent to – Mike @
Southwest Bio-Labs, Inc.
401 N. 17th Street Suite 11
Las Cruces, NM 88005-8131
Thanks,
Mike
I then asked him which method they used and if the temperature at which the pods were dehydrated at made a difference and this is his response:
Yes we use the HPLC method and we many times can have results the next day and if not then the day after. I don’t have any data of pungency loss during dehydration but I know that after drying many producers heat the chili and caramelize the natural sugars and that this does not lower the pungency. The Capsaicin does not seem to be destroyed by the heat, and I would think that to reach a temperature that would break it down would blacken the chili. Moisture levels in the product will be an issue, the drier the pod the more concentrated the pungency due to weight change. So a dried chili at 8% moisture will be 5% lower in the pungency analysis than if it was at 3% moisture.
If these are pods of the very hot variety and are finely ground then we need even less of the product. A very small baggie is enough, just a couple of grams. I know that you would want to keep as much as possible.
Anyways, I thought there was some great information in here and I thoroughly plan on sending a couple samples in to them this season. (Not for any world record claims, but just for my own general curiousity)
The name of the lab is Southwest Bio-Labs, Inc they are located in Las Cruces, NM. Here is part of an email exchange I had with Mike Swickard who works there. And what they charge is fairly cheap compared to what I was expecting
Hi Vincent,
Yes, we analyze for chili for Scoville Heat Unit.
We charge $50 per sample for the analysis. We need the sample pureed or in a powder form. We can do that here, but there is then a prep charge. If you have whole fresh pods then we need about a quart baggie full as we need enough to actually get the pods to puree. For dried pods or flake we again need enough to grind, enough to give us about a half a cup of powder. If you have the product already in this form we only need about a tablespoon full of dried powder or ¼ cup of wet product. The prep charge is an additional $11.
If you are associated with a company we can bill you, if not we can take a check on a US bank, there is no tax if you are not in New Mexico. We are not set up to take credit cards.
You can call me at 575-524-8917 ext 1002.
Samples can be sent to – Mike @
Southwest Bio-Labs, Inc.
401 N. 17th Street Suite 11
Las Cruces, NM 88005-8131
Thanks,
Mike
I then asked him which method they used and if the temperature at which the pods were dehydrated at made a difference and this is his response:
Yes we use the HPLC method and we many times can have results the next day and if not then the day after. I don’t have any data of pungency loss during dehydration but I know that after drying many producers heat the chili and caramelize the natural sugars and that this does not lower the pungency. The Capsaicin does not seem to be destroyed by the heat, and I would think that to reach a temperature that would break it down would blacken the chili. Moisture levels in the product will be an issue, the drier the pod the more concentrated the pungency due to weight change. So a dried chili at 8% moisture will be 5% lower in the pungency analysis than if it was at 3% moisture.
If these are pods of the very hot variety and are finely ground then we need even less of the product. A very small baggie is enough, just a couple of grams. I know that you would want to keep as much as possible.
Anyways, I thought there was some great information in here and I thoroughly plan on sending a couple samples in to them this season. (Not for any world record claims, but just for my own general curiousity)
