The Scoville scale, from zero to 2,693,000
Every pepper and hot sauce in the Scoville Ladder reference library, with its published average, the range it varies across, and where it sits on the twelve-rung ladder. Sort any column. Each name opens a page of its own.
| Published range | Origin | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bell pepper | 0 | — | Warmth | Central America |
| Shishito | 100 | 50–200 | Warmth | Japan |
| Banana pepper | 250 | 0–500 | Tingle | Hungary |
| Pepperoncini | 300 | 100–500 | Tingle | Italy and Greece |
| Frank's RedHot | 450 | — | Glow | Louisiana, 1920 |
| Louisiana Hot Sauce | 450 | — | Glow | New Iberia, Louisiana |
| Texas Pete | 750 | — | Glow | North Carolina |
| Anaheim | 900 | 500–2.5K | Glow | New Mexico |
| Valentina | 900 | — | Glow | Jalisco, Mexico |
| Cholula | 1,000 | 1K–2K | Glow | Jalisco, Mexico |
| Padrón | 1,000 | 500–2.5K | Glow | Galicia, Spain |
| Poblano | 1,250 | 1K–2K | Kick | Puebla, Mexico |
| Ancho | 1,500 | 1K–2K | Kick | Mexico |
| Cascabel | 2,000 | 1K–3K | Kick | Mexico |
| Valentina Extra Hot | 2,100 | — | Kick | Jalisco, Mexico |
| Sriracha | 2,200 | 1K–2.5K | Kick | Si Racha, Thailand — and Irwindale, California |
| Tapatío | 3,000 | — | Burn | Los Angeles |
| Guajillo | 3,500 | 2.5K–5K | Burn | Mexico |
| Tabasco | 3,750 | 2.5K–5K | Burn | Avery Island, Louisiana, 1868 |
| Crystal | 4,000 | — | Burn | New Orleans |
| Chipotle | 5,000 | 2.5K–8K | Burn | Mexico |
| Fresno | 5,000 | 2.5K–10K | Burn | California |
| Jalapeño | 5,000 | 2.5K–8K | Burn | Veracruz, Mexico |
| El Yucateco Green | 5,790 | — | Burn | Mérida, Mexico |
| Tabasco Habanero | 7,000 | — | Bite | Avery Island, Louisiana |
| Hungarian wax | 8,000 | 5K–15K | Bite | Hungary |
| El Yucateco Red | 9,000 | — | Bite | Mérida, Mexico |
| Aleppo | 10,000 | — | Bite | Syria and Turkey |
| Crystal Extra Hot | 10,000 | — | Bite | New Orleans |
| Marie Sharp's Habanero | 15,000 | — | Sting | Belize |
| Serrano | 17,000 | 10K–23K | Sting | Puebla and Hidalgo, Mexico |
| Chile de árbol | 22,000 | 15K–30K | Sting | Mexico |
| Cayenne | 40,000 | 30K–50K | Scorch | French Guiana |
| Tabasco pepper | 40,000 | 30K–50K | Scorch | Tabasco, Mexico |
| Thai bird's eye | 75,000 | 50K–100K | Scorch | Thailand |
| Malagueta | 80,000 | 60K–100K | Blaze | Brazil |
| Piri piri | 100,000 | 50K–175K | Blaze | Southern Africa |
| Da Bomb Beyond Insanity | 135,600 | — | Blaze | United States |
| Dave's Insanity | 180,000 | — | Blaze | United States |
| Scotch bonnet | 200,000 | 100K–350K | Inferno | Caribbean |
| Habanero | 225,000 | 100K–350K | Inferno | Amazon, via the Yucatán |
| Fatalii | 250,000 | 125K–325K | Inferno | Central Africa |
| Datil | 300,000 | 100K–300K | Inferno | St Augustine, Florida |
| Mad Dog 357 | 357,000 | — | Inferno | Massachusetts |
| Red Savina | 450,000 | 350K–577K | Ghost | California |
| Ghost pepper | 1,041,427 | 855K–1M | Ghost | Assam, India |
| Blair's Ultra Death | 1,100,000 | — | Reaper | New Jersey |
| Naga viper | 1,382,118 | — | Reaper | Cumbria, England |
| Trinidad Scorpion Butch T | 1,463,700 | — | Reaper | Trinidad |
| Trinidad Moruga Scorpion | 1,600,000 | 1.2M–2M | Reaper | Moruga, Trinidad |
| Carolina Reaper | 1,641,183 | 1.4M–2.2M | Reaper | South Carolina |
| 7 Pot Douglah | 1,853,936 | — | Reaper | Trinidad |
| Pepper X | 2,693,000 | — | Reaper | South Carolina |
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Why two of the same pepper are not the same pepper
Heat within a single variety varies several-fold with sunlight, drought stress and ripeness — a stressed plant makes hotter pods. Published figures are averages of a wide range, which is why this app adapts off what you report rather than what a chart claims.
Where the numbers come from
Wilbur Scoville's 1912 method diluted pepper extract in sugar water until a panel of five tasters could no longer detect heat. The dilution was the score: 1,000 SHU meant one part extract in a thousand. Modern figures come from HPLC, which measures capsaicinoids directly and is converted back to Scoville units out of tradition.
Coming soon to the App Store
A chart tells you what things are. It does not tell you what to eat next.
Scoville Ladder turns the scale into a programme: a heat to train at tonight, a rest schedule, and a target that adapts to the burn you actually report.
Find your rung See the twelve rungs
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