heat Objective method of measuring heat in fresh peppers?

[Matanzima]

Ok, so every batch of Matanzima hot sauce made to date was made by moi personally.

I've got the process down and scientifically as I can (precise measurement of quantities, temperatures cook times etc).

The one exception to this scientific approach is the addition of the fresh peppers - I primarily use serranos, but the heat of these can vary greatly from batch to batch. So what I do is eat half a serrano straight up from each new batch and then subjectively "top up" on heat with something hotter, sometimes substituting up to 30 or 40% of the serranos with bird eyes

Is there a way to make this less subjective? How do other producers get consistent heat levels from batch to batch using fresh ingredients?

 

[mrz1988]

The best way to do it other than testing every single batch would be to increase the size of the batches you're making. The more peppers you end up using the closer to the average your final heat level will end up being. Larger producers of sauce have more consistent results. I suppose if you can't increase the batch size you can prepare many batches worth of your serranos/birds eye separately and keep them together, and then find a way to preserve them until you can use them all such as freezing.

 

[DEFCON Creator]

How do other producers get consistent heat levels from batch to batch using fresh ingredients?

I can't speak for others, but we mostly use dried peppers. That way, we can order a dumptruck load from the same farm, at the same time of year...Giving us a completely uniform heat. The other nice thing is, they don't rot in a week or two, and take up no space in the freezer.

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

The best way to do it other than testing every single batch would be to increase the size of the batches you're making. The more peppers you end up using the closer to the average your final heat level will end up being.

this.

exactly what my co-packer told me. consistency is all about volume - the bigger your batch, the more consistent it'll be as you're working with the law of averages.

Same principal with what Defcon is saying, just dried peppers (even more reliable I imagine).

I use a combination of fresh and dried - for the dried cayennes I'll be paying a small amt more for the "graded" peppers, which will also help with consistency without materially impacting my production costs.

But overall as I understand it mrz1988 and Defcon are spot on - it's about volume. With a 60+ gallon vat, (134 cases) my co-packer believes I'll be able to achieve solid consistency even with a mostly fresh pepper sauce, and with the dried peppers it will help to even it out further.