capsaicin Capsaicin analysis: Butch T, Jonah, TS Yellow CARDI and Rocoto peppers.

Aussie

Aussie

Thanks to forum members for their helpful comments on an earlier thread. Here is a more extensive analysis on powdered pods, with a Scoville value.
 
Here is how the analyses were done: the fresh picked ripe peppers were cut in half and oven dried to constant weight at 50 °C in an oven. The dried peppers were ground to a powder (the rocoto seeds were removed before grinding but the seeds were kept for the others) then the powder was analysed for capsaicin content.
 
About 200 grams of fresh peppers were used. The peppers lost between 84-88% of their weight during drying.
 
Here are the results:
• 7 pod/pot Jonah (Semillas) = 5.6% capsaicins by weight (about 3:1 capsaicin:dihydrocapsaicin) = about 900,000 Scovilles.
• TS Butch T (Hippy Seed Co.) = 4.7% capsaicins by weight (about 3:2 capsaicin:dihydrocapsaicin) = about 720,000 Scovilles.
• Rocoto (Sgt Pepper) =  0.82% capsaicins by weight (about 1:2 capsaicin:dihydrocapsaicin) = about 130,000 Scovilles.
• TS Yellow CARDI (Semillas) = 0.67% capsaicins by weight (about 1:1 capsaicin:dihydrocapsaicin) = about 100,000 Scovilles.
 
All peppers contain other capsaicins, too.
 
Things that are surprising:
  1. Despite their juicy nature when fresh, rocoto peppers have only marginally more water than other peppers and still make powders with outstanding flavor.
  2. Our TS CARDI Yellow peppers were much milder than we expected but had a great flavor. 
 
Disclaimers:
  1. I calculated the Scoville units based upon the capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin content using a method that is different to the “official” one. Specifically, I used values of 16 million Scovilles for pure capsaicin and 15 million Scovilles for pure dihydrocapsaicin.
  2. Jonah, Butch T and CARDI were grown under the same conditions (similar size pots, watering, feeding, etc.) but the rocoto plant was in the shade and in a bigger pot.
  3. This was done for fun and to satisfy my curiosity only. I make no claim that these plants were grown under optimal conditions. 
I will be growing different strains of Butch T and Jonah peppers this year (thanks for the seeds, Butch!) and will report back on these tests in a year... 
 
Science is cool. 
 
Just for fun, you could do a test to answer a question that many have asked around here. How much does drought stress affect capsaicin levels?
 
Did you send them to a lab for the analysis? if so, where? I doubt id spend the money to test mine but I am curious . thank you I love facts like this , I would have thought the butch would have been the boss
 
Thanks Aussie!! There's so much talk about how hot peppers are, I love that you're putting the science behind it for all of us. I might just have to test some of my peppers this season. Very cool stuff.
 
Thanks for the info and following up on the rocoto. It makes a lot of sense that the c. pubescens have such a different burn. Keep up the good work.
 
Fantastic!  More please!  This info has already helped me figure out my next range of sauces!
 
Thanks dude, you rock.
 
Cheers
 
Can I ask how many samples of each pepper was tested?
What I take from this test is how varied the heat of individual pods from the same species but different plants can be. Obviously the butch t was tested at about 1.5 million scoville and now it tested just about 700k. Less than half of the highest rating for this pepper. It is hard to imagine why these figures vary so much but if we could pin point the control factors that determine pepper capsaicin levels then we could manipulate every plant to be as hot or mild as we want.
 
Hey guys, thanks for the generous comments. 
 
 
 
PepperWhisperer said:
Science is cool. 
 
Just for fun, you could do a test to answer a question that many have asked around here. How much does drought stress affect capsaicin levels?
Click to expand...
 
Thanks PW, it is on the list for next year.
 
 
 
Island_Dan said:
Can I ask how many samples of each pepper was tested?
What I take from this test is how varied the heat of individual pods from the same species but different plants can be. Obviously the butch t was tested at about 1.5 million scoville and now it tested just about 700k. Less than half of the highest rating for this pepper. It is hard to imagine why these figures vary so much but if we could pin point the control factors that determine pepper capsaicin levels then we could manipulate every plant to be as hot or mild as we want.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Dan, I harvested ripe pods from one Jonah plant and one Butch T plant on the same day, from pods that matured over the same time period, grown side-by-side. I used about 15 Jonah pods and at least double the number of Butch T pods, since they were smaller. The dried pods of each variety were powdered together so what you have here is an average.
 
I don't think that testing one plant of each variety like this is statistically meaningful. It could be that of all the seeds that sprouted, the ones that I kept gave me a Jonah plant that puts out unusually hot pods and a Butch T plant with unusually mild pods.There might be other reasons. I'll be growing more of each (and different strains, too) next year.
 
Aussie said:
I run a research group at a University. This kind of testing is routine. 
Click to expand...
Hi Aussie, would you be interested in doing more tests????
I have a good range of superhot hybrids I have been working on for a while and would be very interested in having them tested
perhaps we could work something out?
 
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