How Hot Are Philippine Chili Peppers?
Our local produce is some of the best in the world-and the good quality of our Philippine peppers definitely reflect that! Love cooking with siling pangsigang and siling labuyo? Pour yourself a glass of milk. It's about to get hot in here!
The level of spiciness of every pepper variety is rated on the Scoville Scale-an invention by Wilbur Scoville, where a standardized unit of measurement called a Scoville heat unit determines the pungency of a pepper. Red and green bell peppers have 0 units, while the extremely pungent Carolina Reaper has an overwhelming 2,200,000 units!
This infographic shows where our local Philippine peppers stand on the scale. Bell peppers, bird's eye chilies and green finger chilies are readily-available in every supermarket, while the others may by a little more difficult to hunt down. Chili Asylum owner Isi Laureano, who procures all her peppers locally, has spotted habanero and jalapeno varieties in the provinces of Bukidnon and Baguio. If you're lucky, you'll be able to find fresh ones in your local grocery, too!
