The Core of the Sun enhancing her knowledge of chili peppers by extending an invitation to his farm. There, she sampled and grew an assortment of peppers. Working with chili peppers allowed Sinisalo to understand factors such as the Scoville rating which is determined by capsaicinoids. The Scoville scale measures the spiciness (heat) of the pepper. One can explore the Scoville ratings, health benefits, and growing techniques of peppers on Kilpinen's website In the Core of the Sun's Afterword, Sinisalo describes the Transcendental Capsaicinophilic Society as “ a real, though somewhat tongue-in-cheek, group that can be found on the Internet.” A quick Google search reveals
Scoville scale experienced with eating hot chilis. In the Scoville organoleptic test, an exact weight of dried pepper is dissolved in alcohol to extract the heat components (capsaicinoids), then diluted in a solution of sugar water. Decreasing concentrations of the extracted capsaicinoids are given to a panel of five trained tasters, until a majority (at least three) can no longer detect the heat in a dilution. The heat level is based on this dilution, rated in multiples of 100 SHU. A weakness of the Scoville organoleptic test is its imprecision due to human subjectivity, depending on the taster's palate and number of