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1997 - Volume 6, Number 2

Editorial

Capsaicin content of various varieties of Indonesian chilies

Dyah Juliana S¹, LH Oen², Azizahwati¹ and FG Winarno³

¹ Dept of Pharmacy, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Univ. of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
² Dept of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Univ. of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
³ Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, Indonesia

Asia Pacific J Clin Nutr (1997) 6(3): 99-101

Chilies are widely used in Asian and Meso-American culinary tradition. Their content of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin affects the pungency or organoleptic properties. In Indonesia, there are many varieties of chili and 16 have been studied for their capsaicin content and Scoville organoleptic "heat" score. Small (Capsicum frustescens L) and large (Capsicum annuum L) chilies were assessed. The small Rawit Kalimantan chili had the highest capsaicin concentration at 1.6g/100g and 480,000 heat units. By contrast, the large Tit-Super I chili had 0.08 g/100g capsaicin and 12,500 heat units.

Key words: Chili, capsaicin, Indonesia, Capsicum annum L, Capsicum frustescens L, Rawit Kalimantan, pungency, organoleptic properties, Scoville heat units

Copyright © 1997 [Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition]. All rights reserved.
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