European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine. Rating Ahot Pepper s heat the Mouth is. The computer by Dena Kleiman new York times of hot is Hof that in Short. Is the question chemists food manufacturers psychologists and others Are asking As they debate the relative merits of How to measure the heat of a hot Pepper. At a time when the amount of heal in hot Poppers is providing new insights into the biochemistry of taste these scientists Are raising larger questions about whether when it comes to analysing human perception the computer is As reliable As such human sensory organs As the Tongue measuring a Pepper s heat is More Art than science said Marianne Gillette a chemist who is the manager of product evaluation for Mccormick & co., the spice company based in Hunt Valley my. A computer can Analyse but Only a human can  of course the hot Pepper has both tantalized and torched palates for thousands of years. But it was not until 1912 that a scientist by the name of . Scoville came up with a systematic method for actually measuring its heat. Under this method a dried Pepper is dissolved in alcohol diluted with sugar water and then Given to a panel of tasters who sipping increasingly diluted concentrations of Pepper extract out of shot glasses Are asked to determine the exact Point at which it no longer Burns the Mouth. The hotter the Pepper the More water required and the higher its score on what is now called the Scoville scale. A Jat Aperio Pepper for example has a Scoville rating of 1,500 to 4.500, according to Cal compact foods a Large spice manufacturer in Santa Ana Calif. A bottle of Tabasco sauce has a rating of 4,500, while the hottest known Pepper the Haba Tero has a whopping Scoville rating of 150,000. In recent years however Many scientists have questioned the accuracy and subjectivity of the Scoville lest and the fact that it is so dependant on the human palate. Many have turned instead to a computer to measure a Pepper s capsaicin an organic compound that gives peppers their heat. Capsaicin pronounced Cap say iss in is a powerful chemical present in hot peppers that irritates certain nerves in the human nose and Mouth it is most highly concentrated in a hot Pepper s Central membrane which holds the seeds. It is soluble in both alcohol and fat and can be Analysed through High pressure liquid chromatography a computerized method that can determine the capsaicin parts per million. Chromatography is impartial said Sis us Rivard Tom Burns executive vice president of the american spice Trade association a Trade organization in Englewood Cliffs n.j., that representing spice manufacturers. The association has endorsed the new computer method in the Hope that there will be a new worldwide Standard and vocabulary. Bui some psychologists food manufacturers and others Point out that while chromatography tests for the agent that causes heat in peppers it ignores other chemicals in the Pepper that contribute to the burning sensation. While they take Issue with certain aspects of the Scoville test they nevertheless say the Tongue is the More reliable judge because it registers the entire hot sensation including which. Part of the Mouth a specific Pepper Burns and How Long the feeling lasts. Computer advocates counter that chromatography is More efficient and offers a Means for standardizing what is otherwise highly subjective. The debate has intensified As hot Pepper has become More common in the United states. According to the american spice Trade association americans consume More than 125 million pounds of hot Pepper a year whole ground and in sauces at an annual Cost of $100 million a number that is rising As americans continue to eat increasing amounts of mexican and asian foods. Generally the hotter the Pepper the More valuable it is because less of it is necessary to use. There Are literally hundreds of varieties of hot peppers each with its own Scoville and capsaicin ratings. Even these ratings can vary from Plant to plan with fluctuations in climate and rainfall. In an attempt to offer Consumers products that Are consistent food manufacturers Are constantly measuring the heat of hot peppers in their laboratories before producing such food preparations As Taco sauce cans of Jalapeno peppers Chili powder and ground Cayenne. We want people to enjoy the product said or. Paul Bosland. A chemist at new Mexico state University at Las Cruces who specializes in crossbreeding hot peppers that give the Mouth a specifically Quick Burn. He said the average East coast consumer likes peppers with a Scoville rating of about 600, whereas in the Southwest people want to bite into chilis with a Scoville of about 1,000. He said the Ideal Pepper Burn should last Only seconds. Today the vast majority of major food manufacturers employ chromatography to measure the Hoiness of peppers in Large part because it eliminates the need Lor organizing panels of tasters which can be a cumbersome process Given the number of peppers that need continued on Page 14 Friday december 29, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 13