schofield invented the schofield scale while flying through mid-air and emitting a very girlie sounding squeak noise after being rugby tackled by les carter, guitarist of the popular beat group carter USM on a live television broadcast of the 1991 smash hits music awards.
the schofield scale ranges from 15000 000 schofield units for pure capsaicum [the active ingredient in chili peppers] down through 1000 000 schofield units for naga jolokia [the hottest chili pepper in the world], right down to zero for substances with no discernible hotness at all; such as water, digestive biscuits and doritos extreme chilli heatwave tortilla chips.
| schofield rating | substance |
|---|---|
| 15,000,000-16,000,000 | pure capsaicin |
| 8,600,000-9,100,000 | various capsaicinoids [eg. homocapsaicin, homodihydrocapsaicin, nordihydrocapsaicin] |
| 2,000,000-5,300,000 | standard US grade pepper spray |
| 855,000-1,050,000 | naga jolokia |
| 350,000-580,000 | red savina habanero |
| 100,000-350,000 | habanero, scotch bonnet, datil, rocoto, jamaican hot pepper, african birdseye, madame jeanette |
| 50,000-100,000 | thai pepper, malagueta, chiltepin, pequin |
| 30,000-50,000 | cayenne, ají, tabasco, some chipotle peppers |
| 10,000-23,000 | serrano, some chipotle peppers |
| 2,500-8,000 | jalapeño, guajillo, varieties of anaheim, paprika |
| 500-2,500 | anaheim, poblano, rocotillo |
| 100-500 | pimento, pepperoncini |
| 0 | no discernible heat: bell pepper, doritos extreme chili heatwave tortilla chips |
