Pablano / Poblano Chili Peppers

The Scoville Scale, and how the peppers on it are rated, was originally determined by a panel of taste testers. There are usually five people that make up the panel of taste testers and they are part of what is called the Scoville Organoleptic Test. This test was developed by Wilbur Scoville himself in 1912.

The panel of testers for the SOT are given a solution to taste which is essentially pepper extract that has been diluted with sugar water until the testers can no longer taste the heat. The amount of solution that has to be added to the extract to dilute the heat is recorded and that amount is what is used to determine the level of heat for each pepper tested. Many people have argued that this test is not reliable because it is based on the subjective opinion of humans which has we all know, opinions vary greatly from person to person.  In other words, it is not quite as sophisticated of a method as the Gillette Method which is based on scientific tests and mathematical formulas.