Chili Pepper News

You’ve probably felt the sense of something extremely hot or extremely cold, but have you ever wondered exactly how we sense temperature? That’s exactly what some scientists wanted to know, so one award-winning scientist used chili peppers to help crack the secret. Dr David Julius recently used research on chili peppers to jointly win a Nobel Prize.

It’s the most prestigious award in the world, but did you know this year’s Noble Prize science award went to the ordinary chili pepper? Well, kind of. The 2021 Nobel Prize in the fields of physiology and medicine actually went to two US-based scientists, Ardem Patapoutian and David Julius. Maybe this was the first time you’ve heard of them, but you probably know one of the research subjects pretty well.

If you’ve ever wondered just how hot a hot chili pepper can really get, enter the Scoville Scale. That’s the scale that helps measure the heat of hot chili peppers. The scale gets its name from none other than Wilbur Scoville. He was an American pharmacist who came up with something in the early 1900s called the Scoville organoleptic test. That test estimated the Scoville Heat Units, or SHU, with each type of pepper.

You may be more than ready to add chilies to your diet, but how do you know you’re choosing the right ones? The type of chili you choose often comes down to personal taste. While some people like things extra spicy, others like their food more on the mild side.