Chili Pepper News — Scoville scale

As if being #1 and #3 Presidents and authoring the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were not enough, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were talented gardeners as well. Both were the first Presidents to dip their green thumbs into planting peppers.

Thinking about the first tests to determine the heat of chili peppers, it’s far too easy to think of Wilbur Scoville as a little bit out of his mind. After all, humans are terrible at gauging… well, anything. Given a crime scene, every witness will see something different. And, it’s damned difficult to agree on specific color – so much so that there are color reference guides printed to assist designers and the like.