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If you can get one pepper and let's say for arguments sake assume that this pepper is 1 500 000 SHU. How much sauce could you actually make from one such pepper?

I would personally remove the seeds to improve my seed bank. How would this influence the amount of sauce you could make?It would have to be a reasonably strong sauce, but not overbearing.

Is there a general rule of thumb for how pepper sauces are made in regards to the SHU levels they achieve?

Neil Meyer
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  • What are you trying to make? Something that actually tastes like a pepper, or something that's just pure heat? – Cascabel Aug 10 '16 at 18:56
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    Upvoted back to 0, the question is legit even if it might be misguided. – rackandboneman Aug 11 '16 at 10:21
  • If the pepper is as large as my brother's head, then quite a bit. Otherwise, not as much, or, at least, not as much that resembles any kind of pepper in flavor. – PoloHoleSet Aug 12 '16 at 16:20

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Pepper sauces usually deliver an aroma (from the peppers), some sweet/sour/salty element (from the pickling ingredients mostly), and heat (from the peppers). A hotter pepper will not necessarily be stronger in aroma, so using this kind of super hot pepper alone can end you up with a sauce that is hot but poor in flavor. Also, given that capsaicin is very soluble in fat but not very soluble in water/vinegar, such a sauce will have a very uneven distribution of heat and will likely end up with a very harsh, unpleasant heat no matter how diluted - similar to throwing chile powder into a lean soup.

rackandboneman
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  • What is stopping the source from being high in fat and perhaps emulsifiers? – Frames Catherine White Aug 11 '16 at 11:58
  • Would a high-fat sauce still be what is typically considered a "pepper sauce"? – rackandboneman Aug 11 '16 at 14:29
  • Even if you get it all nicely emulsified, it'll still be a flavorless spicy liquid. – Cascabel Aug 11 '16 at 14:41
  • I would think a high-fat sauce would not keep like a regular pepper sauce, and would possibly go rancid. Still, you have stuff like mustard oil, so it's certainly not out of the question. – PoloHoleSet Aug 12 '16 at 16:19
  • Mind you, if you define "pepper sauce" as "liquid that perceptibly has more heat to it than water", then if you follow through Scoville's methodology then SHU is telling you how much of that you can make from the pepper. Admittedly for cooking that's not a very helpful definition of "pepper sauce". "Reasonably strong but not overbearing" needs some factor less dilution than that. Also you need to know the SHU of the flesh alone, which for some reason people aren't interested in when playing the "my pepper is hotter than your pepper" game ;-) – Steve Jessop Sep 01 '16 at 12:12
  • I think something that is only added to the food for the capsaicin and faint chili taste, but unusable as a condiment, would not meet the definition of "sauce" and be a preserve or extract? – rackandboneman Sep 02 '16 at 08:02
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How much sauce could you actually make from one such pepper?

Too many variables at play to answer definitively. The most influential variable is how many Scoville Heat Units (SHU) you want your resultant sauce to be.

I would personally remove the seeds to improve my seed bank.

Most of the Capsaicin is in the seeds and the pith they are held by (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin#Natural_function). If you remove that for a seed bank you are removing most of your heat.

Is there a general rule of thumb for how pepper sauces are made in regards to the SHU levels they achieve?

No general rules that I'm aware of. Again, depends on how hot you want it. A quick google showed me hot sauce recipes averaging 6 Jalapeno's to make 8 ounces of hot sauce (adding vinegar and other things as well).

My guess: if you wanted to make a hot sauce of Carolina Reaper level heat, you would use 6 reapers for each 8 fluid ounces of product..... I know I would have little interest in using that sauce.

Paulb
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    You could remove the seeds without removing much of the pith, and it wouldn't take out much heat. – Cascabel Aug 10 '16 at 18:55