chinense capasaicin analysis: Bahamian goat, yellow bhut and chocolate bhut

Aussie · Feb 19, 2015

I dried some Bahamian goat, yellow bhut and chocolate bhut peppers, which were grown under identical conditions and tested them.

Here are pics of the peppers from another thread:

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/21897-winter-summer-in-oz-comparison-aussie-blabberers/?p=1117901

Here are the test results:

Bahamian goat (JR seeds) = 250,000 Scovilles (1.6% by weight capsaicins in dry powder)
yellow bhut (SLP seeds) = 300,000 Scovilles (2.0% by weight capsaicins in dry powder)
chocolate bhut (SLP seeds) = 950,000 Scovilles (6.3% by weight capsaicins in dry powder)

The usual disclaimers apply. Here they are in an earlier thread:

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/39666-capsaicin-analysis-butch-t-jonah-ts-yellow-cardi-and-rocoto-peppers/

Ferby · Feb 19, 2015

Very cool!

It confirms my view that the chocolate bhut is hot like hell :fireball:

How do you measure the concentrations? By HPLC? Is it expensive?

Aussie · Feb 19, 2015

Hi Ferby. A graduate student in my research team developed and performed a simple spectroscopic analysis (1H NMR) with an internal standard for calibration. The error is less than 5%. Here is another earlier thread with some spectra of capsaicinoids from fresh peppers:

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/39407-capsaicin-analysis-jonah-and-butch-t-fresh-pods/

He has been rewarded with many fresh peppers and a bunch of plants!

KrakenPeppers · Feb 19, 2015

Nice.. What other tests are to be run in the future ??

JoynersHotPeppers · Feb 19, 2015

Very cool, I think your yellow bhut is under performing. There is no way mine are only 300k and just a tad hotter than the BG.

nuclearDays · Feb 19, 2015

Nicely done, Aussie!

How many grams of dried pods do you need to perform these tests?

juanitos · Feb 19, 2015

yeah i thought yellow bhut would be higher.

D3monic · Feb 19, 2015

I honestly didn't think the BG would be that high based on the powder I have. I would of put it just around habanero. Either way glad to have it on the grow list this year.

Edit: NVM I guess that is still around a good habanero heat.

Aussie · Feb 19, 2015

Thanks for your comments and feedback.

KrakenPeppers said:
Nice.. What other tests are to be run in the future ??

Check out my grow list... I will get through as many as I can!

JoynersHotPeppers said:
Very cool, I think your yellow bhut is under performing. There is no way mine are only 300k and just a tad hotter than the BG.

I agree. We've also noticed big variations in heat level from different peppers from this plant.

nuclearDays said:
Nicely done, Aussie!

How many grams of dried pods do you need to perform these tests?

We use a tenth to a fifth of a gram for each individual analysis. The tested powders came from batches of harvested peppers that weighed between 30-60 grams after drying. You lose about 80% of the weight on drying, so you can work out the weight of fresh peppers from this info.