Pepper Pungency on the Scoville Scale

Plot the ranking of peppers by their Scoville heat rating and create a peppers image collage

The Scoville scale ranks the spiciness (or pungency) of peppers by measuring the amount of the molecule capsaicin in a pepper and assigning it a number rating in Scoville heat units (SHUs). Wolfram Language includes "ScovilleRating" data for dozens of pepper varieties, from the mild pimento pepper to the scorching scorpion and ghost peppers.

Get all of the spicy pepper entities, and display the last 10 peppers in the list:

In[1]:=

peppers=EntityList[EntityClass["Food",{"FoodTypeGroup""Peppers","Variety""Spicy"}]];peppers〚-10;;〛

Out[1]=



Carolina Reaper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Carolina Cayenne Pepper

Birds Eye Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Bhut Jolokia Pepper / Ghost Chile Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Bahamian Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Ancho Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Anaheim Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Aleppo Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Aji Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

7-Pot Douglah

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)



Retrieve the associated SHUs for each pepper entity, and display the first 20 peppers in the list:

In[2]:=

peppersScovilleRatingAssoc=DeleteMissing[AssociationMap[EntityValue[#,"ScovilleRating"]&,peppers]];peppersScovilleRatingAssoc〚;;20〛

Out[2]=



Trinidad Yellow Scorpion

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{400000.,600000.}],

Trinidad Yellow 7 Pot

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{500000.,600000.}],

Trinidad Scorpion (Butch T strain)

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{1.4637×

,1.4637×

}],

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{580198.,2.00923×

}],

Trinidad 7 Pot Primo

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{1.469×

,1.469×

}],

Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{800000.,1.2×

}],

Trinidad 7 Pot CARDI Strain

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{850000.,850000.}],

Tien Tsin Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{50000.,75000.}],

Thai Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{50000.,100000.}],

Tabiche Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{85000.,115000.}],

Tabasco Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{30000.,50000.}],

Super Chile Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{40000.,50000.}],

Serrano Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{10000.,23000.}],

Scotch Bonnet Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{100000.,325000.}],

Santaka Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{30000.,50000.}],

Santa Fe Grande Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{500.,700.}],

Sandia Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{1500.,2500.}],

Rocotillo Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{1500.,2500.}],

Red Savina Habanero Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{350000.,577000.}],

Poblano Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{1000.,1500.}]

ListPlot is a good way to visualize the full range of SHUs. Use the Sort function to arrange the peppers from mild to hot in a scatter plot:

In[3]:=

ListPlot[SortBy[peppersScovilleRatingAssoc,Mean@*MinMax],ImageSize600,AxesLabel"SHUs",PlotRangeAll]

Out[3]=

Get the Scoville ratings for a sample of peppers popular in global cuisines:

In[4]:=

popularPeppers=EntityValue

Aji Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

FOOD

Anaheim Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

FOOD

Birds Eye Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

FOOD

Cayenne Pepper

FOOD

Chipotle Pepper

FOOD

Guajillo Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

FOOD

Jalapeño Pepper

FOOD

Poblano Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

FOOD

Serrano Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

FOOD

Tabasco Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

FOOD

,"ScovilleRating","EntityAssociation"

Out[4]=



Aji Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{30000.,50000.}],

Anaheim Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{500.,2500.}],

Birds Eye Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{100000.,225000.}],

Cayenne Pepper

Interval[{30000.,50000.}],

Chipotle Pepper

Interval[{5000.,10000.}],

Guajillo Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{2500.,5000.}],

Jalapeño Pepper

Interval[{2500.,8000.}],

Poblano Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{1000.,1500.}],

Serrano Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{10000.,23000.}],

Tabasco Pepper

(Wolfram Knowledgebase)

Interval[{30000.,50000.}]

Map the names to the pepper entities:

In[5]:=

popularPeppersNames=KeyMap[EntityValue[#,"Name"]&,popularPeppers]

Out[5]=

Aji PepperInterval[{30000.,50000.}],Anaheim PepperInterval[{500.,2500.}],Birds Eye PepperInterval[{100000.,225000.}],Cayenne PepperInterval[{30000.,50000.}],Chipotle PepperInterval[{5000.,10000.}],Guajillo PepperInterval[{2500.,5000.}],Jalapeño PepperInterval[{2500.,8000.}],Poblano PepperInterval[{1000.,1500.}],Serrano PepperInterval[{10000.,23000.}],Tabasco PepperInterval[{30000.,50000.}]

Just as peppers vary in pungency, they are delightfully different in shapes and shades. Use WebImageSearch and ImageCollage to create a colorful snapshot.

Search the web for one image of each of the pepper names:

In[6]:=