Quick Scope

Every pepper chart online is a heat ladder: pepper, Scoville number, maybe a one-word flavor note. Useful if all you care about is burn. Useless if you are trying to build a sauce.

This chart adds the columns a maker actually reads. Wall thickness, the data behind body, because a thick-walled pepper cooks down and coats food while a thin one runs like water. Color stages, because a pepper is a different ingredient green than it is red. Flavor and aroma, the thing that gives a sauce its character. And form, because a jalapeño and the chipotle it becomes are two different peppers. Twenty-three peppers, side by side.

Free to use, download, and print. No email required.

By Timothy Kavarnos, Founder | Salamander Sauce Company

How to Read This Chart

The peppers are grouped by heat tier, mild to extreme, with the dried and smoked chiles in their own group at the end. Inside each card, the field that does the most work is Job in the bottle: whether a pepper is there for body, heat, flavor and aroma, or color. The hottest pepper is rarely the most useful one, which is the whole idea behind picking peppers by the job they do rather than ranking them by heat.

A note on the numbers. Scoville ranges are wide because growing conditions, ripeness, and variety all move the figure, so read them as overlapping bands, not exact readings. Wall thickness is given as a tier (thick, medium, thin), the way the literature describes it, not a millimeter measurement. And the resonance / contrast / transformation tags in the flavor field are the three aroma families that decide how a pepper pairs with fruit, explained in full in the hot-pepper-and-fruit pairing guide.

Read the flavor column as the ingredient stage. The taxonomy describes the pepper's character going into the build. In a complex multi-ingredient sauce, those qualities integrate rather than dominate — the habanero note may be there if you look for it, but it is not leading. This chart is most useful at the design stage, when you are deciding what you are building toward. The simpler the formula, the more the pepper's individual character drives the result.

Mild

Bell pepper (red) ● In Salamander

Capsicum annuum

Heat: ~0 SHU (no capsaicin)

Walls: Thick

Color stages: green → yellow → orange → red (red is sweetest, fully ripe)

Flavor & aroma: Sweet, mild, rich; grassy when green (contrast family)

Forms: Fresh, roasted

Job in the bottle: Body / base + color

Poblano

Capsicum annuum

Heat: 1,000–1,500

Walls: Thick

Color stages: green → red (sweeter, slightly hotter ripe)

Flavor & aroma: Earthy, vegetal when green, sweeter red (contrast)

Forms: Fresh; dried ripe → ancho

Job in the bottle: Body + mild heat

Anaheim

Capsicum annuum

Heat: 500–2,500 (NM-grown types run hotter)

Walls: Medium–thick

Color stages: green → red (fruitier ripe)

Flavor & aroma: Mild, peppery, light sweetness (contrast)

Forms: Fresh, roasted; dried red (chile California)

Job in the bottle: Body / mild heat

Hatch

Capsicum annuum (New Mexico type)

Heat: ~800–1,400, spans mild to hot by cultivar/season

Walls: Medium / thin

Color stages: green → red

Flavor & aroma: Smoky, earthy, slightly fruity (contrast)

Forms: Fresh (fire-roasted green), dried red, powder

Job in the bottle: Flavor / mild heat

Espelette

Capsicum annuum (Gorria; French AOC)

Heat: 400–4,000

Walls: Thin

Color stages: green → red (harvested red, then dried)

Flavor & aroma: Sweet, fruity, berry, gentle smoke (transformation — dried)

Forms: Almost always dried / ground (piment d'Espelette)

Job in the bottle: Flavor / color

Medium

Jalapeño ● In Salamander

Capsicum annuum

Heat: 2,500–8,000

Walls: Thick

Color stages: green → red (sweeter ripe)

Flavor & aroma: Crisp, bright, grassy when green (contrast)

Forms: Fresh; smoke-dried ripe red → chipotle

Job in the bottle: Middle / structure

Fresno

Capsicum annuum

Heat: 2,500–10,000 (red hotter)

Walls: Thin

Color stages: green → orange → deep red

Flavor & aroma: Grassy green; sweet, fruity, lightly smoky red (contrast)

Forms: Fresh; dried

Job in the bottle: Middle / flavor

Serrano

Capsicum annuum

Heat: 10,000–23,000

Walls: Thin

Color stages: green → red (sweetens, rounds out)

Flavor & aroma: Bright, grassy, crisp green; berry & floral red (contrast → leans resonance ripe)

Forms: Usually fresh green; dried

Job in the bottle: Middle / bite

Bulgarian Carrot (Shipka)

Capsicum annuum

Heat: 5,000–30,000

Walls: Medium

Color stages: ripens to bright orange / carrot

Flavor & aroma: Sweet, fruity, tangy, crisp (contrast, fruity)

Forms: Fresh, pickled, roasted

Job in the bottle: Flavor / color (orange)

Aji Amarillo

Capsicum baccatum

Heat: 30,000–50,000

Walls: Medium / fleshy

Color stages: green → bright orange

Flavor & aroma: Fruity: passion fruit, raisin, berry (resonance, fruity)

Forms: Fresh; dried → ají mirasol; paste

Job in the bottle: Flavor / heat

Hot

Cayenne

Capsicum annuum

Heat: 30,000–50,000

Walls: Thin

Color stages: green → red

Flavor & aroma: Clean, sharp, peppery; little aroma (heat engine)

Forms: Fresh; dried → powder, flakes

Job in the bottle: Heat

Thai / Bird's eye / Piri piri

Thai & bird's eye = C. annuum; piri piri = C. frutescens

Heat: 50,000–100,000

Walls: Thin

Color stages: green → red

Flavor & aroma: Fruity, bright, sharp (contrast / bright)

Forms: Fresh; dried

Job in the bottle: Heat

Habanero ● In Salamander

Capsicum chinense

Heat: 100,000–350,000

Walls: Thin, waxy

Color stages: green → orange or red (tropical sweetness develops)

Flavor & aroma: Bright, citrus, floral, tropical, subtle smoke (resonance)

Forms: Fresh; dried

Job in the bottle: Heat + flavor / aroma

Scotch bonnet

Capsicum chinense

Heat: 100,000–350,000

Walls: Thin, waxy

Color stages: green → red / yellow

Flavor & aroma: Sweeter, tropical, stone fruit, apple & tomato (resonance)

Forms: Fresh; dried

Job in the bottle: Heat + flavor

Fatalii

Capsicum chinense

Heat: 125,000–400,000

Walls: Thin

Color stages: green → citrus yellow

Flavor & aroma: Fruity, sweet, lemon-lime citrus over earth (resonance)

Forms: Fresh; dries well → powder

Job in the bottle: Heat + flavor

Extreme

Red Savina

Capsicum chinense (habanero cultivar)

Heat: ~350,000–500,000+ (former Guinness holder; top peaks unreplicated)

Walls: Thin, wrinkled

Color stages: green → fire-engine red

Flavor & aroma: Sweet, fruity, citrus, apricot (resonance)

Forms: Fresh (rare), dried, powder

Job in the bottle: Heat

Ghost (bhut jolokia)

Capsicum chinense (with C. frutescens introgression)

Heat: ~855,000–1,041,000

Walls: Thin, wrinkled, pock-marked

Color stages: green → red (also chocolate, yellow, peach)

Flavor & aroma: Sweet, fruity, light smoke; slow lingering burn (resonance)

Forms: Fresh, dried, powder

Job in the bottle: Heat (novelty)

Carolina Reaper

Capsicum chinense

Heat: ~1,400,000–2,200,000 (avg ~1,641,000; former record-holder)

Walls: Thin, wrinkled, pock-marked

Color stages: green → yellow → orange → scarlet red

Flavor & aroma: Sweet, fruity (peach, floral), smoky dried (resonance)

Forms: Fresh, dried, powder

Job in the bottle: Heat (novelty)

Dried & smoked (their own ingredient)

Chipotle  ← jalapeño

Capsicum annuum (smoke-dried ripe red jalapeño)

Heat: 2,500–8,000 (skews high)

Walls: Thin–medium

Color stages: from ripe red, then smoked + dried

Flavor & aroma: Smoky, earthy, slightly sweet (transformation)

Forms: Dried whole, powder, canned in adobo

Job in the bottle: Flavor / heat

Ancho  ← poblano

Capsicum annuum (dried ripe red poblano)

Heat: 1,000–1,500

Walls: Thick, leathery

Color stages: from ripe red, then dried

Flavor & aroma: Rich, earthy-sweet, raisin, coffee, chocolate (transformation)

Forms: Dried whole, powder, paste

Job in the bottle: Flavor / body

Guajillo  ← mirasol

Capsicum annuum (dried red mirasol)

Heat: 2,500–5,000

Walls: Thin

Color stages: from ripe red, then dried

Flavor & aroma: Bright, tangy, berry/cranberry, tea, slight pine (transformation)

Forms: Dried whole, powder, paste

Job in the bottle: Flavor

Pasilla  ← chilaca

Capsicum annuum (dried chilaca / chile negro)

Heat: 1,000–2,500

Walls: Thin–medium

Color stages: from mature chilaca, then dried

Flavor & aroma: Raisiny, earthy, sweet, smoky depth (transformation)

Forms: Dried whole, powder, paste

Job in the bottle: Flavor

Paprika  ← dried red peppers

Capsicum annuum (ground; multiple dried red cultivars)

Heat: Sweet ~250–1,000; hot types higher

Walls: Thin-fleshed source peppers

Color stages: from dried ripe red peppers

Flavor & aroma: Sweet/fruity (sweet), pungent (hot), smoky (pimentón) (transformation)

Forms: Powder: sweet, hot, smoked

Job in the bottle: Flavor / color

● The three peppers marked In Salamander (red bell, jalapeño, habanero) are the peppers we build on. The flag is a reference note, not a ranking; every pepper here earns its place at some job.

Download the Chart

Take it to the kitchen.

A printable PDF of the full chart, free and ungated. Pin it by the stove or keep it on your phone for the produce aisle.

Download the PDF (free) →

Want the maker's-seat notes behind the chart? Join the Salamander list for how-and-why posts as they go up. No spam, and the chart is yours either way.

Sources

Salamander's own Scoville figures (Original 7,300 SHU) are lab-measured (Southwest Bio-Labs, Sept 2025, wet weight). Pepper-variety SHU above are standard horticultural ranges, not Salamander measurements.

The Bottom Line

A heat ladder tells you which pepper burns hardest. This chart tells you which pepper does which job, which is the question that actually builds a sauce. Wall thickness is the column nobody else charts, and it is the one that decides whether a sauce has body or runs thin.

If you would rather taste the principle than build it, that is the whole idea behind Salamander: a sauce where the body comes from thick-walled produce, not a thickener.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is wall thickness, and why does it matter for hot sauce?

Wall thickness is how much flesh a pepper has between its skin and its seed cavity. It matters because that flesh is body. A thick-walled pepper like a bell or a poblano cooks down into a sauce that coats food, while a thin-walled pepper like a cayenne or a serrano contributes heat and flavor but little substance. It is the column most pepper charts leave out, even though it largely decides whether a sauce feels full or runs thin.

Why are the Scoville numbers shown as wide ranges instead of one figure?

Because a single pepper variety does not have one fixed heat. Growing conditions, ripeness, and the individual plant all move the Scoville number, sometimes by a lot, so two jalapeños off the same plant can differ. The honest way to chart heat is as an overlapping band. For why even an exact lab number does not predict how hot a sauce actually tastes, see the Scoville post.

Can I download or print this pepper chart?

Yes. The chart is free to download as a printable PDF, with no email required. Use the download button above. You are welcome to print it for personal kitchen use.

Built the Way This Chart Reads

Thick-walled produce for body, whole habaneros for heat and fruit. Full-bodied from vegetables, not a thickener. Made in New York's Hudson Valley.

Shop Salamander Sauce

About Timothy Kavarnos

Timothy Kavarnos is the founder of Salamander Sauce Company, a Brooklyn-based hot sauce maker focused on flavor first, built from whole vegetables and real ingredients. Over fifteen years ago, he started making hot sauce in his kitchen because he couldn't find one that brought flavor and fire together. Today, Salamander Sauce is produced in New York's Hudson Valley using the same recipes: whole habaneros, real bourbon, and a body built from vegetables, not vinegar. The low sodium was a byproduct, not the goal. Timothy writes about hot sauce, ingredients, and flavor science on the Salamander Sauce blog.

Born of fire; defined by flavor.