62,5000 median heat, in Scoville heat units (SHU) of the Tien Tsin, or Chinese red pepper.

Spicy noodle soup in China

Chili peppers in China

  • The tien tsin pepper is between sx and thirty times hotter than the jalapeño (Pepper Scale)
  • While it isn’t nearly as hot as the habanero at 100,000–350,000 SHU (Wikipedia), they are often used with seeds intact, contributing to its potent heat (a chili’s seeds and membrane contain most of its heat)
  • Chili pepper came to China less than 400 years ago, ending the 2,000-year dominance of prickly ash (hua jiao) – another herb used for seasoning (Chili Pepper Institute)
  • The earliest written record of the prickly ash in China appeared more than 2,000 years ago, and statistics from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) show that over one-third of recorded dishes contained the herb. (China Daily)
  • China’s current pepper production is about 40 million tons, ranking first in the world. (Fresh Plaza)

 

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