Testing Chillies and Peppers (Fresh, Whole Chilli or Dried Pods)

METHOD ONE

1.       Cut and Weigh 5-10 gm of a chili pepper on your precision balance. 

 

2.       In a suitable container add 1 volume in milliliters of buffer per gram of pepper.  For example if your pepper slice weighs 5.3 gm, then add 5.3 ml of buffer

 

3.       Blend or grind the buffer and pepper until it is well homogenized.  Be careful not to spray or spill the mixture.

 

4.       Use the pipettor to add a small amount of  the mixture to the sensor electrodes. You will need to cut off the end of the pipet tip to accurately pipet the semisolid homogenate.  Be sure all three of the electrodes located at the end of the sensor are covered with liquid. Do not use too much liquid.

 

5.       Run the ChilliPot application.  Enter 0.1 ml sample and 0.1 ml dilution.  This is a 2 (final volume) to 1 dilution.

 

6.       Read and record the value.

 

7.       The SHU value may be high and you will need to do a 10 to 1 solution by pipetting 100 microliters of the pepper mixture with 900 microliters of buffer.

 

8.       Repeat step 4 and 5 by adding a drop or two of sample onto the sensor.

 

9.       Read the SHU value and multiply by 10x to get the true SHU value.

 

10.   If it is a very hot pepper you may need to do another dilution of the previosly diluted sample.  This is called a serial dilution. You will need to multiply by 10x for every dilution to get a heat result.

METHOD 2

CRUSHED POWDER, GROUND CHILLI POWDER, CHILLI FLAKES AND SEEDS

 

  1. Open the app on your phone and connect to the device (ChiliPot).
  2. Weigh 500 mg in a 15 mL centrifuge tube.
  3. Add 4.5 ml of Chillipot buffer to the 15 mL centrifuge tube.
  4. Shake the tube vigorously for 1 minute with a good vortex.
  5. Transfer 50µl of the slurry onto the electrode. Ensure that all electrodes are covered with sample (make sure that no liquid gets to the connector of the sensor). Use the pipette tip to spread the sample if necessary.
  6. Initiate the app analysis by selecting the correct sample, and dilution, and running it.

 

If previous data is still showing a big variability, then please make one further dilution where you take 100 µL of slurry and mix it with 900 µL of buffer on a beaker before transferring it to the electrode and running the app. Make sure to account with this extra dilution on your results. Remember to have the same waiting/vortex times for every sample and do not run the app several times (1 time for each sample for each new/rinsed and dry sensor).

 

 

 

 

Normally, for values around 20 000 – 30 000 SHU we do not need alcohol extraction but it might prove to be necessary for your application, however, the most important thing is that you get consistent data.