Pace® Picante 'Hot" sauce----------------42 <<-used as a reference
California mild------------------------50 (d)
Joe E. Parker--------------------------53 (f)
Mexican Negro--------------------------72 (f)
Sweet Wrinkled Old Man-----------------90 (f)
Bhavnagari---------------------------------92 (f)

Costeño Amarillo----------------------100 (d)
Cherry Large Hot----------------------125 (f)
Espanhola-----------------------------131 (f)
Mulato--------------------------------135 (f)
New Mexico Improved-------------------166 (f)
Fresno--------------------------------178 (f)

Crystal® Pure Louisiana Hot Sauce-----222 <<-used as a reference
Elephant's Trunk----------------------222 (f)
Jalapeno "M"--------------------------238 (f)
Numex Big Jim-------------------------238 (f)
Chimayo-------------------------------370 (f)

Manzano Orange------------------------500 (f)
Manzano Red---------------------------600 (f)
Cayenne Long Slim---------------------625 (f)
Jalapeño Early------------------------700 (f)

Uncle Steve's Louisiana Hot Sauce------769 <<-used as a reference
Suryamukhi Cluster--------------------833 (f)
Manzano Yellow------------------------840 (f)

Aji Yellow--------------------------1,000 (d)
Cobra (G-4)-------------------------1,000 (f)
Caloro------------------------------1,111 (f)
Santa Fe Grande---------------------1,120 (f)
Puya--------------------------------1,250 (d)

McIlhenny's Tabasco® Hot Sauce-------1,250 <<-used as a reference
Guajillo----------------------------1,300 (f)

Portugal Hot------------------------1,428 (f)
Aji Rojo----------------------------1,500 (d)
Cascabel----------------------------1,600 (d)
Bangalore Torpedo-------------------1,666 (f)
Hawaiian Sweet Hot------------------1,667 (f)

Dagger Pod--------------------------2,000 (f)
New Delhi Long----------------------2,116 (f)
Faizabadi---------------------------2,500 (f)
Twilight----------------------------2,500 (f)
Chilcostle--------------------------3,200 (d)
Squash Red 5 in 1-------------------3,333 (f)

Scotch Bonnet Safi Red--------------4,444 (f)
Andra-------------------------------5,000 (f)
Squash Jamaican Red-----------------5,000 (f)
Kurnool-----------------------------5,714 (d)

Habanero Chocolate------------------6,000 (f)
Catarina----------------------------6,667 (d)
Habanero Paper Lantern Red----------6,777 (f)
Scotch Bonnet Burkina Yellow--------6,777 (f)
Thai Bangkok Upright----------------6,700 (d)

De Arbol----------------------------8,000 (d)
Malagueta Craig's Selection---------8,000 (f)
Onza Rojo---------------------------8,000 (d)
Scotch Bonnet Caribbean Red---------8,000 (f)
Nepali Orange-----------------------8,333 (f)

Mayan Cobanero Love----------------10,000 (d)
Sudanese---------------------------10,000 (f)
Tabasco----------------------------10,000 (f)
Red Savina® -former Worlds Records*------10,000 (f)--only for reference.

Squash Jamaican Yellow-------------11,111 (f)
Scotch Bonnet Big Sun--------------11,400 (f)
Punjab Small Hot-------------------13,300 (d)
Thai Large-------------------------13,300 (d)
Scotch Bonnet Fatali---------------14,118 (f)

Habanero Orange Craig's Triple-Hot 15,384 (f)
Habanero White Bullet™-------------16,000 (d)
Japones----------------------------16,000 (d)
Zimbabwe Bird----------------------19,500 (d)

Assam------------------------------20,000 (d)
Pequin-----------------------------20,000 (d)
Sadabahar--------------------------21,333 (f)
Habanero Mustard-------------------23,076 (f)
Bhut Jolokia -a Guinness Worlds Record*---25,000 (f)--only for reference.
Indian PC-1------------------------25,000 (f)
Habanero Gold Bullet™ 40K----------40,000 (f)
Dave's Ultimate Insanity Sauce-----50,000 ----used as a reference
Tepín (seeds removed)-world's hottest 20,000-64,000(d)

Copyright © 1984-2007 by Craig C. Dremann

*NOTE about the Bhut Jolokia and the Red Savina® : The Bhut Jolokia is the current Guinness World Record listed pepper. The Red Savina is a PVP (patented), and the name is a registered U.S. Trademark, for a red habanero type of pepper which formerly held the Guinness World's Hottest record.

ANY Guinness claim for the "world's hottest pepper", as far as a person can tell, is that over the last few decades, the claims have not been independently evaluated or tested by a third party and independent laboratory. To make any future Guinness claims valid, a third disinterested party would need to grow the peppers, and then test them in a uniform way for their heat levels.

When we grew the Red Savina® and tested the fresh ripe fruit in 2004, it only rated 10,000 on our scale, and in 2007 we tested fresh ripe fruit of the Bhut Jolokia, and it only rated at 25,000 on our scale. You can see from our scale that there's other peppers in the world, that are as hot or hotter than either the Bhut Jolokia or the Red Savina®.

The continued search for the world's hottest peppers, should be confined to the New World, because all the peppers on the planet, originated from the plants originally growing in Central and South America.

There's probably 50,000-60,000 pepper varieties world-wide, and if you include variations in the heat levels of individual varieties, maybe as many as 100,000. Only a few thousand of the peppers of the world have been described, and nobody has accurately tested any significant numbers of all those peppers, for their heat levels.

"Craig Dremann's Scale"--different from the "Scoville" Scale?
There's a ton of controversy about pepper hotness, so in 1984 I invented an easy method to test a pepper's heat level, to get a fast and accurate way to measure pepper heat levels.

To test a pepper using the Scoville units, you have to spend several hundred dollars to have a laboratory test the heat of a single pepper. On the other hand, Craig Dremann's Hotness Scale™ can be done at home in the kitchen, with a gram scale, a blender, and a graduated baby's eyedropper (in cc) in about 10 minutes.

The numbers are different between the two scales. You will see fantastically high Scoville claims published, but these numbers are practically impossible to confirm.

What makes Craig Dremann's scale numbers so much better, is that they relate to something that is real---they mean that if you take a single ounce of a particular pepper, how many ounces of salsa will that make hot?

Plus, you can confirm Craig Dremann's Hotness Scale numbers in your own kitchen at almost no cost, in less than 10 minutes.

Why does Craig's Scale use "d" and "f" next to the numbers?
If you look at any Scoville unit claims for any pepper, why is there never any indication of at what stage was the pepper tested? ---Was the pepper fresh-green, fresh red-ripe, or dried?

The general rule on pepper hotness is that when it is fresh green, it is only one-third as hot as a red-ripe pepper of the same kind. Then, the dried pepper is generally 2-10 times hotter than the fresh red-ripe pepper of the same variety.

Keep the seeds in, or remove the seeds before testing?
Anyone testing pepper hotness can further manipulate any hotness numbers, by either leaving in the seeds, or removing them prior to testing.

Seeds themselves have no hotness within them, other than a tiny bit on the seed's surface---so removing seeds will generally make a pepper hotter. However, when we test peppers, we always keep the seeds in.

Our booklet on the step-by-step process on how you can do your own 15-minute Craig's Hotness Testing can be ordered from our Books section at http://www.ecoseeds.com/#anchor55

Seeds listed on this Hotness Scale page can be ordered from Redwood City Seed Co.
Visit us on our home page by clicking: http://www.ecoseeds.com/peppers.html

Question: Why does the Tepin pepper heat level on the Dremann Scale, vary from 20,000 to 64,000?

Answer: The heat levels of the Tepin pepper varies for several reasons:

a.) NOT CULTIVATED yet---Tepins are only harvest from wild plant growing in the desert mountains of northern Mexico, and they are unirrigated, uncultivated and never fertilized--a wild-crafted product. So the heat levels will vary from year to year, based on the climate.

b) DROUGHT -- The area of the Southwest and Northern Mexico, over the last decade has been experiencing moderate to severe drought, and if the tepin pepper plants do not get rainfall in the summer when pods are forming, their yields and heat levels are low. You can see the latest drought picture at http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html in Arizona

c.) NEVER FERTILIZED -- The wild tepin plants have never been fertilized over the thousands of years, in the areas they have been harvest. Test fertilizing some of the wild Tepins with bone meal, which gave the plants both calcium and phosphorus, greatly improved the quality of the pods.

d.) NEVER SELECTED FOPR UNIFORMITY -- Since the Tepins have never been cultivated, therefore, have never been selected for uniformity, either to their size or their heat levels. That would seem to be a breeding issue for the future, if this variety is ever put into cultivation.

Question: Since the Tepin pepper seeds where removed for the Dremann Hotness test, are seeds removed from all the peppers tested, using the Dremann Scale?

Answer: No, I don't remove the seeds for all tests, but noted that the Tepin heat level was conducted with the seeds removed, since the dried Tepin flakes we offer, are sold that way, with the seeds removed.

Question: Why are the Dremann Scale numbers inconsistent with other published results including those based on HPLC?

Answer: The Dremann Hotness Scale numbers can only be compared with any other test results, whether HPLC or otherwise--only if we cut the exact same pepper in half the long-way, and the Dremann Scale is compared with any other method.

There's going to be variations in the numbers for several reasons, like the huge number of VARIETIES of jalapeños, of serranos, and hundreds of varieties of orange habanero, red scotch bonnets, etc.

Growing conditions have a big influence on the ultimate heat level of a pepper. Where the peppers are grown, and how much the plants are watered, fertilized, etc. has a huge influence what heat levels result. I've personally tasted hot peppers, and when they were grown in foggy, cool coastal summer conditions, the pods never developed any heat at all.

What our Dremann Hotness Scale numbers reflect, are the heat levels we obtained, when we tested the particular strains of each of those peppers that our company sells seed of.

Question: How is the Dremann Scale more useful for home gardeners, than the Scoville numbers?

Answer: The Dremann Scale offers over the old Scoville Units, that is very helpful for the home gardener, for pepper selectors and breeders, and even for the professionals in the seed trade or in the food processing business?

In ten minutes, using a gram scale, a blender, and a graduated baby eye-dropper, anyone can get an accurate number to evaluate the heat level of any pepper, and save hundreds to thousands of dollars per test session.

Access to the Scoville test is limited to only a few wealthy people, or universities that have the equipment---whereas the Dremann Hotness Test is available with anyone with a tongue that can still taste the heat of a pepper.

The real advantage of the Dremann Hotness method, is that it allows the home gardener to select which are the hottest varieties for selection or reproduction.

Anyone could go through 100 different pepper from their back yard, and for no money, take a sample of fruit from each plant, and conduct the Dremann Scale Hotness test, and get an accurate evaluation of their relative heat levels.

"Trust your tongue to taste reality, and NEVER let the machines or the guys in lab coats to do it for you."

Sincerely, Craig C. Dremann, Redwood City Seed Company
(650) 325-7333

Updated December 9, 2007