mixing chile powders

[jbrahy]

Hi Everyone,

 

I'm obviously not a chemistry or science major but I don't know where else to turn for an informed answer. I'm working on a new recipe and I need to predict the scoville rating. I'm using several different types of peppers to get the best flavor but some of them are just extremely hot and need to be diluted. Here's my data. How do I calculate it?

 

Thanks,

 

JB

 

 

[Greg H.]

How is the Scoville rating calculated in the first place?

 

Edit, after a bit of googling, you could convert your scolville values to ASTA pungency units (see Scolville Scale on Wiki), which are given in parts per million. This would let you calculate a weighted average based on the % of the final mixture and the original parts per million, and you could use that average to determine the final Scolville value.

Edited August 15, 2012 by Greg H.

[Iota]

Well you'd need to measure the capsaicin content of the powder mixture. I'm sure that's done with analysis equipment of some sort.

 

It's practically an impossible task to measure it in the way you are trying.

 

I have some pure capsaicin extract, I suggest you buy that. You can dilute it down in proportions, from 16mil Scovilles, to the desired heat level. I don't recommend eating it roar though!

 

 

 

 

[John Cuthber]

Pure capsaicin measures about 16,000,000 Scoville units

So the hottest of your peppers contains (the equivalent of) about part in 16 of capsaicin.

The red Savinia is a bit more than half that so it's about 1 in 32.

So you can work through each one working out how much capsaicin is in it.

Then you can multiply each of those concentration by the amount you added to the mix, so you add up 0.02 times 1/16 and 0.02 times 1/32 and so on to get the equivalent concentration of capsaicin in the mixture.

 

From that, and the value for the pure material, you can work out the effective Scoville value for the mixture.

But who cares? It's going to be pretty much inedible.

[jbrahy]

I'm not trying to be exact but a rough estimate would work. I was hoping I could take the volume (tablespoons) and Scoville rating to generate a factor for each chile portion and then average those to determine a overall Scoville rating.

 

something like this:

 

 

Ap = chile pepper A volume

As = chile pepper A rating

 

Bp = chile pepper B volume

Bs = chile pepper B rating

 

Cp = chile pepper C volume

Cs = chile pepper C rating

 

Dp = chile pepper D volume

Ds = chile pepper D rating

 

Ep = chile pepper E volume

Es = chile pepper E rating

 

Fp = chile pepper F volume

Fs = chile pepper F rating

 

Gp = chile pepper G volume

Gs = chile pepper G rating

 

Hp = chile pepper H volume

Hs = chile pepper H rating

 

Ip = chile pepper I volume

Is = chile pepper I rating

 

Jp = chile pepper J volume

Js = chile pepper J rating

 

Kp = chile pepper K volume

Ks = chile pepper K rating

 

average Scoville rating = (Ap * As) + (Bp * Bs) + (Cp * Cs) + (Dp * Ds) + (Ep * Es) + (Fp * Fs) + (Gp * Gs) + (Hp * Hs) + (Ip * Is) + (Jp * Js) + (Kp * Ks) / (total number of chile)

 

 

Is this possible? Am I on the right track?

 

Thanks,

 

JB