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6 pepper SHU's results

Hi everyone.  I tested a batch of 6 different Super hot type peppers for SHU's.  I thought you might like to know the results as well.  The first 3 peppers are from ajdrew at PeppersByMail.  These were very good quality and beautiful phenotypes.  The last 3 are from a friend that doesn't want to be named.  enjoy!
 

 
Carolina Reaper (Grower: PeppersByMail.com) 1,407,800 SHU
Red Primo (Grower: PeppersByMail.com) 1,350,900 SHU

Red Brainstrain(Grower:PeppersByMail.com) 1,082,500 SHU



Yellow Primo   268,000 SHU 

Red Primo  1,011,500 SHU

Savanah  737,300 SHU
 
jsschrstrcks said:
Very interesting.

if you don't mind me asking, how much do they charge to test a batch of 6 peppers?
 It's $50 per sample.

Oh I dried about a dozen of each, dehydrated them, ground them up, and then tested them at Southwest Bio-Labs.  The growers did not know I was doing this so they were not selected for this purpose,   -Tom
 
That is a wide range of heats, from 268K to 1.4mil. 
 
 
 
I don't follow all the Latest/Greatest claims.   Are there claims of higher SHU for some of the other tested varieties?
 
Seems like I am around the right SHU for reaper and brain, but high for what I usually see primo listed as.  Could be dna, could be luck of draw.  But wondering about nutrients.  Same general soil, but I have mini clay ponds behind most of the gardens.  The water by the primo garden has duck, fish, and turtle.  No frogs cause the ducks eat them.  The ponds behind the reaper and brain strain have nothing but frogs because the ducks are too stupid to to venture back there.

Thinking on something someone at Hippie Seed said about the run off from a worm farm raising SHU, I wonder if maybe its the duck and fish contributing to the nutrients in the water.
 
1tom2go said:
Yellow Primo   268,000 SHU 
 
 
This should teach something about "natural mutations" circulating and all the hybrid craze...
Most of the times those are random cross pollinations vastly inferior to the original variety IMHO.
 
Cya
 
Datil
 
ajdrew said:
Seems like I am around the right SHU for reaper and brain, but high for what I usually see primo listed as.  Could be dna, could be luck of draw.  But wondering about nutrients.  Same general soil, but I have mini clay ponds behind most of the gardens.  The water by the primo garden has duck, fish, and turtle.  No frogs cause the ducks eat them.  The ponds behind the reaper and brain strain have nothing but frogs because the ducks are too stupid to to venture back there.

Thinking on something someone at Hippie Seed said about the run off from a worm farm raising SHU, I wonder if maybe its the duck and fish contributing to the nutrients in the water.
Actually the hottest "stable" pepper we've tested here at Southwest Bio-labs is the Primo red at 1.5 million from another grower.  The hottest pepper ever, is a top secret brown F3 thing at 1.6 million.
 
juanitos said:
hey really cool that you spent the $ to have them tested.
It's actually my job to test peppers, so it didn't cost as much as a normal customer. ;)
 
The_DoGMaN said:
I found this very interesting, thank you!  I am surprised by the yellow primo result.
For some reason the yellow and white peppers seem to always be lower than the "standard" varieties.  Wierd!
 
---------------------------------------
 
Here's another round of tests I did with peppers from another grower on this forum:
 

 
 
[SIZE=medium]7pot Primo, Red:  1,056,000 SHU[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]7pot brainstrain, Red:  1,235,000 SHU[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]7pot brainstrain, Yellow:   160,400 SHU  (did not get dried as much as the others, so may be low extraction)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Scotch bonnet, Chocolate:  36.500 SHU[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]7 pot bubblegum:  731,000 SHU[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Yellow Scorpion, CARDI  :  315,000[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Cream Fatalii:  462  SHU   (tasted mild to me, and did not get dried as much as the others, so may be low extraction)        [/SIZE]
 
-Tom

salsalady said:
That is a wide range of heats, from 268K to 1.4mil. 
 
 
 
I don't follow all the Latest/Greatest claims.   Are there claims of higher SHU for some of the other tested varieties?
There are claims...but so far they are still in the range of Primos, Reapers, and Morugas  that can test up around 2 million, but not average that high.  The problem now seems to be getting the brown or chocolate types stabilized before making any claims, depending on who you talk to.
 
swellcat said:
It's interesting to see SHU test data somewhere outside of a marketing context.
 
Now the breeder with the finances to test a lot of peppers over ample generations can just follow the scoville to the hottest peppers in the world.
 
Heckle said:
 
Now the breeder with the finances to test a lot of peppers over ample generations can just follow the scoville to the hottest peppers in the world.
It's true, I just don't see it happen much.  I'm only one testing lab of several in the country, but there are a few growers testing on a regular basis.
 
Mene said:
I plan on having some tested at some point, but 50 bucks every time will add up haha
True, It doesn't add up for the normal small grower to spend $ on this.  Most of our customers are from the big sauce and spice powder companies.  The super-hots business are around 5%, but growing.
 
hottoddy said:
Thanks for sharing the info! Surprised to see the yellow scorpions have such a smaller SHU.
 
I'd love to see some Chocolate Bhutlah, Chocolate Brainstrain, 7 Pot Lava, etc. tested in the future.
The light color variations just continue to be lower than reds or others.  
I agree about the chocolate types.  This is the next frontier for me personally as well.  I am growing some next year but before that I may buy some to test.  Anything I test for customers at work, I can't share, so only things I do personally will I share.
 
1tom2go said:
The light color variations just continue to be lower than reds or others.  
I agree about the chocolate types.  This is the next frontier for me personally as well.  I am growing some next year but before that I may buy some to test.  Anything I test for customers at work, I can't share, so only things I do personally will I share.
I was sent some top secret brown peppers on the condition I wouldn't share. Guessing its a similar variety.

It is pretty intense.
 
I am curious on the large sauce companies motivation.  Is it adjusting their recipes for consistent flavor?  I always figured they had taste testers for that, figured it would be a great job.
 
ajdrew said:
I am curious on the large sauce companies motivation.  Is it adjusting their recipes for consistent flavor?  I always figured they had taste testers for that, figured it would be a great job.
That's right AJ, consistancy is king!  That is what they care about most when you have an established brand.  I don't know if they have taste testers, but I bet they do, after the product is made.
 
What they use us for is the initial pepper mash blending calculations by SHU.   Here in Las Cruces we have several companies that ferment peppers for sauce.  They may have 100 large mash tanks and when the fermentation cycle is complete (7-12 months), they test all the tanks for SHU, salt, pH, etc. and then blend them so they are all about the same heat, then pump the mashes into tanker trucks that head off to the production facility in the midwest.
 
I tested a couple more types for SHU recently:
 
White Ghost (PeppersByMail):  135,300 SHU
 
Chocolate Bhutlah (PeppersByMail):  867,300 SHU
 
I am suprised the Choc Bhutlah was not hotter!  It just goes to show that everthing veries a lot.  I know PeppersByMail grows some very hot ones, as seen in above posts.
 
-tom
 
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