The "Hotness" Index

Indian food is hot. So is Thai food. And Mexican food. But is there a way to compare the hotness of food? Sure is. It's called the Scoville Scale. This scale essentially measures capsaicin content in peppers. Here's how it goes:

Scoville units      Pepper varieties
0-100               most bell peppers and sweet peppers
100-500             pepperoncinis
500-1,000           New Mexico peppers
1,000-1,500         Espanola peppers
1,000-2,000         ancho peppers, pasilla peppers
1,000-2,500         Cascabel peppers, cherry peppers
2,500-5,000         jalapenos, Mirasol peppers
5,000-15,000        serrano peppers
15,000-30,000       Chile de Arbol peppers
30,000-50,000       cayenne peppers, Tabasco peppers
50,000-100,000      chiltepin peppers
100,000-350,000     Scotch Bonnet peppers, Thai peppers
200,000-300,000     habanero peppers
16,000,000          pure capsaicin

The hottest pepper variety known to man? Red Savina habanero.