Re: [CH] V5 #271 Scoville $ pH measurement
Cameron Begg (begg.4@osu.edu)
Fri, 26 Mar 1999 09:17:53 -0600
Hi C-H's,
Fanie Jordaan wrote:
>I would be delighted to find out more regarding the methods and test
>equipment used in this process.
Welcome to the list Fanie. The food, chemical and pharmeceutical industries
use several techniques for measuring the "zing" of peppers (the most often
reported is gas liquid chromatography - GLC) but to the best of my
knowledge there is no standardised proceedure. As you imply in your note,
the Scoville "test" is pretty well useless for anything other than a very
rough guide. Another complicating factor is that different sorts of chile
pods contain capsaicins (the zing providers) of different chemical types
and in different proportions. Not all people perceive the same levels of
zing when making comparisons.
The science is tedious. The fun is finding out for yourself with taste
experiments!
[May I politely request that you and anyone else using it please turn off
MIME and HTML encoding for the benefit of us Digest readers - Thanks.]
Oh Byron if you are there - I have a "cheap" solution to your pH
measurement ideas - make your own meter! By the time you have designed it,
built it, tested it, calibrated it and figured out how to interpret the
results, you will have learned that you should have been using pH paper or
indicator solutions like I told you!
Regards, Cameron.