16 Million Scoville Units

Is this interesting to gastronomers or daredevils (or both)?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005211088,00.html

Enjoy.

Best,
Michael / EC

What's that fruit in the tropics that's so acidic that you can get burns from standing under its tree in a rain storm?

I predict that's next.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know how scoville units are measured? I remember alton brown saying it was originally based on the number of spritzes of sugar water required to cool the heat. I'd imagine it's something a bit more scientific now, if only because 16 million spritzes sounds like a lot.

-ed

These days the measurement is done via HPLC - High Performance Liquid Chromatography. A very brief summary of the method can be found here.

I do like the imagery in the Alton Brown episode though.