scovilles Scoville question.

[scotchnaga85]

How do they work out how much the scoville is of a chilli?

Is it the total amount in a single pod or is it (for example) gram for gram.

So if if we for simplicity agree its 250,000 for a habanero & 1 million for a naga.

1 gram of naga in a dish has the same heat level as 4 grams of habanero?

 

[thegreenman]

AFAIK They can test a single pod or a group of pods which are all dried and powdered and ground together. 
 
High-performance liquid chromatography[SIZE=small][edit source | editbeta[/SIZE]]
Spice heat is usually measured by a method that uses high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This identifies and measures the concentration of heat-producing chemicals. The measurements are used in a mathematical formula that weighs them according to their relative capacity to produce a sensation of heat. This method yields results, not in Scoville units, but in American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) pungency units. A measurement of one part capsaicin per million corresponds to about 15 Scoville units, and the published method says that ASTA pungency units can be multiplied by 15 and reported as Scoville units. Scoville units are a measure for capsaicin content per unit of dry mass.[6][7][8] This conversion is approximate, and spice experts Donna R. Tainter and Anthony T. Grenis say that there is consensus that it gives results about 20–40% lower than the actual Scoville method would have given
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[scotchnaga85]

Excellent, thank you

So in the kitchen it's basically gram for gram.