Which is the hottest part of a chilli?

May 27, 2010 - PRLog -- A generation of television chefs have had us believe that the hottest bot of the cilli pepper is its seeds.Not so.

It his the central membrane to which the seeds are attached.The membrane contains the highest levels of capsaicin,the colourless,odourless compound that gives chillies their distinctive heat.Chilli heat is measured using the Scoville Scale,created by American pharmacist Wilbur L. Scoville in 1912.In his carly tests,Scoville mixed a range of chilli extracts dissolved in alcohol and diluted in sugar water.He asked a panel of testers to consume a range of concentrations of various chillies until they ceased to taste hot.A numerical scale was then devised according to the heat of the chillies.

A jalapeno pepper,for example,is said to have 4500 Scoville Heat Units (SHU),because it has to be diluted 4500 fold before it loses its heat.The hottest chilli in the world is from Dorset, on the south-west coast of England.Michael and Joy Michauds Dorset Naga,naga is Sanskrit for 'serpent' was grown on a plant from Bangladesh.

It was tested by two American laboratories in 2005,and came in at palate-torching 923000 SHU.Even half a small Naga would render a curry inedible,and consuming a whole one would mean a trip to hopital.Despite this,250,000 Nagas were sold last year.

To put it in perspective,pure capsaicin powder delivers 15-16 million SHU.It is so hot
that pharmacists who experiment with it must work in a filtered 'tox room'
wearing a full protective body-suit with a closed hood to prevent inhalation.There
are an estimated 3,510 varieties of chilli.

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