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Feel the heat with the Scoville app
I'm a real chili-head. You know, one of those people who chomps on Habanero peppers and buys hot sauce by the case. So I was very interested in trying out the Scoville app (US $1.99) for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad (which displays it in iPhone size or doubled mode). Wilbur Scoville devised a test for the rating the strength or pungency of chili peppers in 1912. Ever since, Scoville scores of hot peppers are commonly bandied as bragging rights when trying to convince friends just how hot you can go before your head explodes. The Scoville app gives someone like me all the ammunition he needs as well as providing an encyclopedic amount of information on chilies. The app is well laid out and easy to use. There are a number of options on the bottom of the screen. The first is a listing of chilies by Scoville units, including its picture, name and Scoville score. The Bell pepper has a score of 0, while the Naga Jolokia pepper can go as high as 1,041,427 units. Tapping on one gives you a large picture of the pepper in question as well as information on alternate names, size, growing location and just about anything else you would want to know. Of course that won't satisfy a chili-head, so the rest of the options are more specific. The next one sorts chilies alphabetically by name, with the letters of the alphabet on the right side of the screen, similar to that in the Contacts app, to make retrieval easier. Tap on the letter and you'll get to the requested first letter.
