From Chelsie Kenyon,
Your Guide to Mexican Food.
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When you are deciding what ingredients to use in a recipe, flavor is often the main consideration. When dealing with chiles, the heat level is a bigger concern for many people. Chiles contain an alkaloid called capsaicin which creates the burning sensation in your mouth. Some chiles contain more capsaicin then others. So the question becomes how do you tell which ones are hotter?

A. There are several ways of testing the varying heat levels for each chile. The most commonly used one is a scale called the "Scoville Heat Rating." In the test, people taste a chile and rate it accordingly. The test results provide a guide to the spiciness of certain chiles.

It is important to remember that weather and soil conditions can have an effect on the spiciness of chiles. Also, each taster has a different level of what they consider hot.

Using the Scoville Heat Rating chart, here are a few chiles and the corresponding heat levels put into words. Or you can view the chart yourself to determine the heat for a specific chile.

• Bell pepper(actually a chile)-No heat
• Pepperoncini-Mild heat
• Ancho and poblano-Medium heat
• Tobasco, jalepeno and chipotle-Hot
• Serrano and Cayenne-Very hot
• Habanero-Extremely Hot