Turn Up the Heat!

When you’re setting out to repel pests by using hot peppers, you want the hottest ones your supermarket has to offer. What provides the steamy quality in these fruits is certain heat-producing chemicals, the prime one being capsaicin. How much capsaicin a pepper has—and therefore, how much firepower it delivers—is measured in Scoville Heat Units. (They’re named for scientist William Scoville, who came up with the system back in 1912.) Here’s Dr. Scoville’s scorecard. You might want to keep these numbers in mind when you’re shopping for peppers to use in my Marvelous Mix recipes.

Anaheim chili
250–1,400

Jalapeño
4,000–6,000

Serrano chili
7,000–25,000

Cayenne
30,000–35,000

Chili Pequin
35,000–40,000

Tabasco
30,000–50,000

Habañero
200,000–350,000