Image showing a large pile of red hot chili peppers

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The Story of Spicy Food

September 2024

Information compiled by Alex Lim-Chua Wee

75 percent of Americans enjoy spicy food

The Heat Scale

Chili peppers get their heat from a chemical called capsaicin [kap-SAY-uh-suhn]. The Scoville scale measures how much capsaicin a pepper has. This is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHU).

A- Pepper x

2,693,000 SHU

B- Ghost pepper

855,000-1,041,427

SHU

C- Habanero

100,000-

350,000 SHU

D- Cayenne

pepper

30,000-50,000 SHU

E- Jalapeño

pepper

2,500-8,000 SHU

F- Bell pepper

0 SHU

_{Note: Chart shows peppers’ relative positions. Not to scale.}

_{Source: Guinness World Records (Pepper X); National Institute of Standards and Technology (all others)}

The Health Effects

Some studies show that eating spicy food may help you live longer.

Too much capsaicin at once can affect your breathing or cause stomach problems.

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Did You Know . . .

Birds don’t react to capsaicin like humans do. They can eat the hottest pepper and feel no pain!

Your Turn: Imagine you have the chance to take part in a hot pepper eating contest. Write a paragraph stating whether you would do it and explaining your decision.

Core Skills

Text Features

Format

Infographic

Topic

Food

Genre

Nonfiction

Content Type

Article

Skills Sheets (1)

Text-to-Speech