How to measure the hotness of chilli honey

martinpeacock13
May 2, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Mar 8

In this video we showed how to measure the Scoville Heat Units of a chilli honey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOzHKArJfkI

Sample Preparation

To quantify the SHU, I prepared a 1-in-10 dilution of the honey using the ZP buffer.

Here’s the exact method:

Weigh 0.1 g of the chili honey.
Add 0.9 mL of buffer solution.
Ensure all the honey and buffer are transferred into the container (critical for accuracy).
Vortex for 30 seconds.

The honey dissolved easily — no centrifuge needed.
The resulting solution was smooth, non‑cloudy, and ready for testing.

This mixture creates a 1:10 dilution, which matches the assay setting selected during measurement.

Running the Measurement

With the sample prepared, I moved to the measurement stage using the ZP chili sensor.

Steps:

Insert a fresh sensor into the meter.
Confirm Bluetooth connection in the app.
Name the sample (honey 5).
Select the 1-in-10 assay in the menu.
Pipette 50 µL of sample onto the sensor.
Start the measurement via the app.

The app sends the instructions to the meter, the meter performs the electrochemical measurement, and the result is sent straight back to the app — all within moments.

The Result: How Hot Is This Honey?

The measurement returned:

⭐ 1,017 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) ⭐

This puts the honey in the mild category — noticeably warm, but nowhere near the heat of fresh chilies or hot sauces. It matches the ingredient list and taste test: a pleasant warmth rather than intense heat.

As always with the ZP system, the data was also uploaded automatically to the cloud, where I could view:

Sample name: honey 5
Timestamp
Raw electrochemical data (essential for QC, audits, or batch release)
Final SHU result: 1,017 SHU

Summary

Here’s the workflow in a nutshell:

Weighed 0.1 g of chili‑infused honey
Added 0.9 mL buffer → 1:10 dilution
Vortexed 30 seconds
Deposited 50 µL onto the ZP chili sensor
Ran the measurement
Result: 1,017 SHU
Data auto‑synced to the ZP Cloud

This demo shows how quick and reliable it is to measure the heat level of chili‑containing foods, even mild products like infused honey.