Scotch bonnet Scotch bonnet Scotch bonnet, also known as bonney peppers, or Caribbean red peppers, is a variety of chili pepper named for its resemblance to a tam o' shanter hat. It is native to the Caribbean islands and Central America. Most Scotch bonnets have a heat rating of 80,000–400,000 Scoville units. For comparison, most jalapeño peppers have a heat rating of 2,500 to 8,000 on the Scoville scale. However, completely sweet varieties of Scotch bonnet are grown on some of the Caribbean islands, called cachucha peppers. These peppers are used to flavour many different dishes and cuisines worldwide and are often
Scoville scale mouth heat receptors, which vary widely among people. Another weakness is sensory fatigue; the palate is quickly desensitized to capsaicinoids after tasting a few samples within a short time period. Results vary widely (up to ± 50%) between laboratories. Since the 1980s, spice heat has been assessed quantitatively by HPLC, which measures the concentration of heat-producing capsaicinoids, typically with capsaicin content as the main measure. As stated in one review: "the most reliable, rapid, and efficient method to identify and quantify capsaicinoids is high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); the results of which can be converted to Scoville Heat Units by multiplying