Scoville Scale: How Hot is Tabasco?

In the United States, few hot sauces are as famous or popular as the classic, Tabasco. Tabasco is used for everything from popcorn to pickles and gives that peppery, vinegary heat that we all love. Today, we are going to take a look at the original version of Tabsco in order to discover just how spicy it is. Using the Scoville scale, we will officially know: how hot is Tabasco hot sauce? Let’s get started!

What is the Scoville Scale?

The Scoville scale is a way of measuring the heat of peppers. Inside all spicy peppers is a certain chemical known as capsaicin. Capsaicin triggers your body to feel heat and taste a spicy sensation. Higher levels of capsaicin mean more heat!

The Scoville scale was originally created by Wilbur Scoville in 1912 and was called the Scoville Organoleptic Test. The original test put a small amount of the pepper on a plate and diluted it with sugar water until a panel of testers wasn’t able to feel the spice anymore. For a 1,000 SHU pepper, it would take 1,000 units of sugar water to make the heat undetectable. Today the test is a bit outdated since “feeling heat” can be a bit subjective. Instead, a more modern test called the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) test is used that tests for capsaicin concentration instead of relying on human subjectivity.

How Hot is Tabasco on the Scoville Scale?

The most common type of Tabasco sauce, the pepper version, is usually listed as around 3,500 Scoville heat units, or SHU for short. The system isn’t exact, as the Scoville system is usually only used for peppers, but most people agree that the rating of 3,500 is pretty accurate. For reference, a jalapeno is around 3,000 SHUs.

The story of Tabasco is an old one. In fact, many consider it to be one of the oldest brand-named hot sauces in the world. The sauce was first made and branded in 1868, which is over 155 years ago! For reference, Ulysses S. Grant won the presidential election in 1868, marking the first election after the American Civil War. Knowing that Tabsco was founded in 1868, it is quite possible that Ulysses S. Grant used Tabasco hot sauce on his food, which is a pretty strange thought.

Tabasco was first made by Edmund McIlhenny, a Maryland-based banker who moved to Louisiana in 1840, although the official history is a bit disputed. In fact, there has even been a whole section in a book where the official story is contested. In that story, a politician named Maunsel White was producing a similar pepper sauce for over 20 years before Tabsco was released. White developed his sauce after experiencing a similar sauce in the Mexican state of Tabasco, hence the name. As it stands, there is the official Tabasco brand story and the probably more likely story of Maunsel White who was documented as growing tabasco chiles for decades.

What is Tabasco Made Of?

Tabasco gets its name from the type of peppers that are used in its production: tabasco peppers. Originally, all of the peppers grown for the sauce were exclusively grown on Avery Island, Louisiana, but production needs soon had the company outsourcing to other farmers in the area. The peppers are made from tabasco peppers, vinegar, and salt, making it a relatively simple sauce. The ingredients are combined and then allowed to ferment in what’s known as a “mash” in huge barrel-filled rooms.

The primary element that gives Tabasco its spice and heat is the tabasco pepper. Tabasco peppers themselves have a Scoville rating of between 30,000 and 50,000 SHU, which is much hotter than the sauce itself. The dilutive effect that the vinegar has on the sauce, plus the fermentation time, mellow out the sauce quite a bit.

The Types of Tabasco Sauce and Their Scoville Ratings

Originally, there was only one type of Tabasco-branded sauce. Today there are a lot of different types and flavors, some of which are only seasonal or specially released. Each one has its own Scoville rating since it is made using different ingredients or at least different ratios of ingredients.

According to The Recipe, the original sauce only has a measly 400 SHU, making it ideal for someone who can’t tolerate a lot of head. Moving up a level, we have Tabasco Pepper Sauce, the one that most people are familiar with. This version of the hot sauce is much hotter, right around 3,500, as we mentioned before. Right in the middle of the two, we have the Tabasco Green Sauce. The green version of the sauce is made with jalapenos, and since they are milder peppers, the sauce is overall much less spicy, around 1,000 SHU. The hottest standard release version of Tabasco is the habanero version. Everyone knows how hot a habanero can be, and this sauce is listed at around 8,000 SHU. If spice isn’t your thing, avoid this sauce at all costs.

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