OverThe Heat Guide
Every bottle on this shelf states its heat straight — the maker's number, or an estimate labeled as one. This guide is the reference behind those labels: what the numbers mean, how the store shelves by them, and the peppers doing the work. No photos, no folklore — just the peppers, profiled straight.
The Scoville scale
In 1912 the pharmacist Wilbur Scoville devised a simple test: dilute a pepper extract in sugar water until a tasting panel could no longer feel the burn. The dilution count became the Scoville Heat Unit. Modern labs measure capsaicin — the compound that does the burning — directly, but the unit stuck. Pure capsaicin tops the scale at 16,000,000 SHU.
| Bell pepper | 0 SHU — no capsaicin heat at all |
|---|---|
| Poblano | 1,000–2,000 SHU |
| Jalapeño | 2,500–8,000 SHU |
| Spur chilli | ≈5,000–30,000 SHU (sources vary) |
| Morita | 2,500–10,000 SHU |
| Calabrian chili | ≈25,000–40,000 SHU (commonly cited) |
| Habanero | 100,000–350,000 SHU |
| Ghost pepper | 855,000–1,041,427 SHU |
| Trinidad Scorpion | 1,200,000–2,000,000 SHU |
| Pure capsaicin | 16,000,000 SHU — the ceiling |
How this store shelves heat
Three bands, shelved by how a bottle behaves at the table — not by raw number alone. A recipe built for pouring can carry a fierce pepper gently; a concentrate can make a mild one rude.
Warm. Pour-it-on bottles — jalapeño, serrano, and easy habanero warmth you can use by the spoonful. Flavor first, fire second: the everyday shelf.
Hot. Respect-it bottles — ghost, reaper, and serious habanero heat that builds and lingers. A few shakes change the dish.
Overpeppered. The stunt shelf — extract-loaded heat and the hottest natural sauces on Earth, every one labeled with exactly what is in it. Drops, not pours.
Reading a bottle honestly
Most makers never publish a Scoville figure, and this store will not invent one. Where a bottle's page gives a number, it is the maker's or the commonly cited figure for the recipe, labeled as such; where it gives a band and a description instead, that description is the honest version. A sauce's peppers, in its facts table, always link to their profile here.
Cooling it down, and handling the hot end
Capsaicin is an oil, which is why water just spreads it around. What works: dairy (the casein in milk and yogurt pulls capsaicin off the tongue), something sweet, something acidic, and starchy food to carry it. For the Overpeppered shelf: treat the bottles like the concentrates they are — gloves if you are cooking with the raw peppers, never touch your eyes, and keep them away from children and pets.
Styles on the shelf
Sriracha — a fermented ripe-red-jalapeño style from the Thai town of Si Racha, built on the jalapeño and its Southeast Asian cousin the spur chilli. Bomba — Calabria's chopped chilies in olive oil; see the Calabrian profile. Banana ketchup — the Philippines' sweet, tangy, gently spiced table sauce, here in Banana Ketchup Hot & Spicy. Chili pastes — the habanero, concentrated: Pineapple Habanero Chili Paste and Citrus Mango Habanero Chili Paste. Ginger chili — Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce, where fresh ginger shares the billing. House blends — Caribbean Vietnamese Hot Sauce — Level 2, IL MIG Hot Sauce, and Hot Pepper Sauce mix peppers by recipe rather than by name, so they are shelved by behavior, like everything else here.
The peppers, profiled
- Habanero — 100,000–350,000 SHU · Fruity, floral, fierce
- Jalapeño — 2,500–8,000 SHU · Bright, green, friendly
- Calabrian Chili — ≈25,000–40,000 SHU (commonly cited) · Fruity, rich, lingering
- Spur Chilli — ≈5,000–30,000 SHU (sources vary) · Clean, sweet, everyday
- Morita — 2,500–10,000 SHU · Smoky, sweet, deep
- Ghost Pepper — 855,000–1,041,427 SHU · Slow-building, smoky, serious
- Trinidad Scorpion — 1,200,000–2,000,000 SHU · Fruity, then the sting