Happy Birthday Wilbur Scoville!

Wilbur Scoville was born 151 years ago today. Google has decided to celebrate the event with a little doodle game on its website. Why they have chosen 151 years, rather than 150, or say 149 is a bit of a mystery to me. 

Anyway, Scoville was the American pharmacist who created the "Scoville Organoleptic Test", to measure the heat of various chilli peppers.

The scale starts at zero heat units for the Green bell Pepper. The Jalapeño chilli rates a mere 1,500 units, the Bird's Eye chillies shown in the photograph are a hot 200,000 units, the Scotch Bonnet is a blistering 300,000 units while the World's hottest chilli, the Carolina Reaper hits a terrifying 2,200,000. Should you ever get caught up in a riot you might want to remember that Standard Grade US Pepper Spray packs 5,000,000 units!