By Marlin Bensinger

Anyone reading the Fiery Foods & Barbecue SuperSite can tell from the increasing number of product names listed that the production of hot sauces and salsas has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and Europe. Acceptance of fiery foods by nearly all sectors of the population has been surprising and delightfully encouraging for a uniquely American growth industry. Companies ranging in size from the Mom & Pop garage operations to food giants like Campbell’s Soup and McIlhenny have benefited from the craving for heat. As the industry matures, standards for consistency and product quality control, including heat levels, will be instituted by most companies.

Establishing the pungency of fiery foods with complex formulas is not a simple task if the pungency comes from more than one source such as ginger, black pepper (Piper nigrum), dry mustard, wasabi or hot pepper (Capsicum). However, if the primary source of pungency in the product formula comes from Capsicum, the pungency level, measured in Scoville Heat Units or SHUs (pronounced ‘Shoes’, like what you wear on your feet) can readily be determined  using a laboratory instrument called a Liquid Chromatograph. By detecting and determining the concentration of the three major heat producing compounds (called capsaicinoids) contributed by the hot pepper in the product formula, a calculation can be made that accurately determines the SHU level of the starting materials, of the batch in process and of adjustments made during the processing and ultimately the SHU level of the final.

Changing the pungency of a product in process is not something to be taken lightly.  By adding one material you can unintentionally change another property of the batch that cannot be tolerated such as viscosity, flavor balance, mouth-feel, color, or aroma. Ideally, you want to add a product to your batch that will just change the pungency and nothing else.

Lowering Pungency

Lowering the SHU level on a batch of material would seemingly be the easiest and least costly adjustment to make. The use of non-pungent or low pungency ingredients that are compatible with the goals of your recipe are acceptable. These include tomatoes, carrots, fruits, onions, low heat/no heat chiles, or diluents like water, emulsifiers, sugars, or thickeners. As long as the non-pungent additive(s) closely follow the overall formula of the product, the resulting pungency reduction should be successful.

Raising Pungency

Raising the pungency of your product can be accomplished by several methods, but requires a conscious decision regarding the selection of the variable ingredients. It must be understood that in order to raise the pungency of your product, you must choose a material for the adjustment that is much more pungent than that of the starting point pungency of the product itself. This follows the same considerations for dilution that were discussed above.

Example 1 – Let’s take a 1000 lb. batch of salsa being made that has a pungency of 1500 SHU and you want to raise the pungency level to 2500 SHU. You have available fresh cayenne peppers that have a pungency of 35,000 on a dry weight basis. To make calculations simple, let’s assume that the cayenne peppers have a 10.0% dry down or on a fresh basis, the peppers have a pungency of 3,500 SHU. Using the following calculations, the quantity of the fresh cayenne peppers needed to adjust the pungency level of the salsa batch up to 2500 SHU can be determined:

(SHU of the Batch) x (Batch Wt., Lbs) + (Wt. of Cayenne Peppers to be Added) x (SHU of the Cayenne Peppers) = (Original Batch Wt., Lbs + Wt. of the Cayenne Peppers to be Added) x (Desired Pungency of the Batch).

(1500 x 1000) + (X x 3500) = (1000 + X) x 2500
1,500,000 + 3500X = 2,500,000 + 2500X
1000X = 1,000,000
X = 1000 pounds of Fresh Cayenne Pepper

The weight of the cayenne pepper needed to make the desired pungency adjustment was 1000 pounds  The original batch weight was 1000 pounds  It would probably be safe to say that the initial batch of salsa would now be more like chunky cayenne hot sauce in texture and flavor.

Example 2 – Let’s take the same batch of salsa that was in Example 1and adjust the pungency using dry cayenne powder that has a pungency of 35,000 SHU on a dry weight basis to get the same final 2500 SHU for the batch. By using the dry powder having 10 times the pungency, only 30.77 pounds of the cayenne powder would be required for this adjustment.  The cayenne powder, however, would act as a thickening agent that could change the final batch viscosity and “loading” characteristics on a salsa chip. In addition, the flavor profile and mouth feel might be changed.  An attempt to correct the viscosity would result in reduced pungency.

Example 3 – Oleoresin Capsicum can be used in still smaller quantities to make this pungency adjustment on the batch of salsa. Assuming that you have 350,000 SHU oleoresin available, the quantity of this oleoresin needed to make the pungency adjustment would only be 2.88 pounds.  An addition this small would probably not appreciably change the resulting product’s viscosity or texture.  However, there are a couple other concerns to deal with.  The flavor/aroma profiles of conventional oleoresins are rather distinctive ranging from “old sneakers” to “wet, earthy tobacco leaves.”  If the product being adjusted has a mild or delicate flavor/aroma profile, the contribution of the oleoresin might be significant enough to be an unwanted part of the final product presentation. Oil soluble oleoresins, for the most part, do not mix well with vegetable products having a water matrix. As a result, the oil soluble oleoresin will eventually separate from the mix and produce an oil layer at the top of the bottle or jar.  Thus, the invention of the label “Shake Well Before Using.”  Water Dispersible oleoresins are also available but generally have a bad taste due to the use of the emulsifier Polysorbate 80 or Tween 80.  Although this emulsifier is considered safe for use in foods, it has a bitter, astringent taste that can be detected in even small quantities.

A solution to the bad aroma/flavor profile of conventional capsicum oleoresins is a new approach to capsicum oleoresins developed in New Mexico by Sonoma Organics Division of Seco Spice called OleoCap (oil soluble) and HydroCap (water soluble). The peppers are grown in Southern New Mexico under the USDA Organic Certification Program.  After hand-harvesting, the peppers go from the field to the dehydrator at Seco Spice in a matter of hours. The dry and moderate temperatures of Southern New Mexico are ideal for growing, processing and storing these hot peppers ready for extraction.

The extraction process is carried out using Food Grade organic ethanol instead of petroleum-based hexane. The resulting oleoresin is totally different in flavor and aroma profile than conventional capsicum oleoresin on the market today.  You have to smell these new capsicum oleoresins and taste them to believe and appreciate the difference.

Sonoma Organics is currently marketing OleoCap in SHU ranges from 100K to 500K.  HydroCap, the water soluble counter-part to OleoCap, is marketed in two SHU strengths – 10K and 50K.  HydroCap contains no emulsifiers or preservatives that might compromise the flavor/aroma profile of your product.  HydroCap is water soluble, contains heat and has only the slightest aroma of natural peppers.
Both OleoCap and HydroCap are certified Organic and Kosher.  For more information, send an email query here.

About the Author
Marlin Bensinger is the Technical Director of Sonoma Organics Division of Seco Spice Ltd. Co. He has been providing analytical laboratory services and training to the food and spice industry, as well as consulting services for spice extraction plant design and construction for over 35 years. His special field of interest is in the area of chile extraction and analysis. He is a member of The Institute for Food Technology, The American Chemical Society, The Chile Pepper Institute of New Mexico State University and The Institute of Food and Agricultural Science of University of Florida.