Wilbur Scoville

Wilbur Scoville (1865-1942) was an American scientist, specializing in chemistry and pharmacology. He had much success for his organoleptic studies with peppers. He investigated the spicy properties of diferent types of peppers. For to do the studies he  devised a protocol in order to measure the degree of hotness of each fod, which he called Scoville organoleptic test. This tests is to prepare a solution of chilli extract,  which is diluted in sugar water until the spicy no longer be detected by a committee of examiners. in this way he made a scale, Scoville Scale, which  measures the spicy taste caused by a secondary metabolite of peppers, capsaicin. The scale goes from zero to 2.220.000 SHU (Scoville Heat Units), corresponding first whit  sweet pepper (Capsicum anuum) and the second  whit Carolina reaper (Capsicum chinense).  for all the work realiced, Scoville recived the  Ebert Prize (1922) and the Remington Honor Medal (1929).