ChilliFacts

Datil Scoville Heat

Datil measures 100,000–300,000 SHU, with a typical figure of 200,000 SHU: about 40× a typical jalapeño. It ranks #13 among verified peppers.

Also called Datil pepper. Capsicum chinense (UF/IFAS uses the synonym C. sinense).

Data checked October 20, 2026 · How we rank and verify

200,000 SHUTypical heat
100,000–300,000 SHUMeasured range
40×Against a jalapeño
Lab testedStatus
Pepper X: 2,693,000 SHUDragon's Breath: 2,480,000 SHUCarolina Reaper: 1,641,183 SHUTrinidad Scorpion Butch T: 1,463,700 SHU7 Pot Primo: 1,400,000 SHUKomodo Dragon: 1,400,000 SHUNaga Viper: 1,382,118 SHUTrinidad Moruga Scorpion: 1,200,000 SHUInfinity: 1,176,182 SHU7 Pot Brain Strain: 1,175,000 SHU7 Pot Douglah: 1,170,000 SHUDorset Naga: 1,032,310 SHUGhost Pepper: 1,001,304 SHUNaga Morich: 1,000,000 SHUDalle Khursani: 393,950 SHUFatalii: 262,500 SHURed Savina: 248,556 SHUHabanero: 225,000 SHUScotch Bonnet: 225,000 SHUKanthari: 80,640 SHUBird's Eye Chilli: 75,000 SHUCayenne: 40,000 SHUTabasco: 40,000 SHUGuntur Chilli: 36,160 SHUKashmiri Chilli: 20,800 SHUSerrano: 15,000 SHUByadgi Chilli: 10,000 SHUJalapeño: 5,000 SHUDatil · 200K1K SHU10K SHU100K SHU1M SHU
Where Datil sits on the Scoville scale. Each dot is a pepper in our dataset, on a log scale.

Where the number comes from

UF/IFAS St. Johns County: 'around 100,000 to 300,000 units', similar to habanero. Our typical figure is the range midpoint. (UF Gardening Solutions has a typo, '3000,000'.)

Origin

St. Augustine, Florida, USA. UF/IFAS says its exact origin is unknown. Local legend credits Minorcan settlers bringing it from Spain, but no C. chinense was grown in the Mediterranean at the time. Other theories point to Cuba (around 1880) or the Caribbean slave trade. [1]

Flavour and looks

Sweet, fruity tang in addition to the heat.

Colours: yellow-orange, olive to lime green (unripe, with a purple stripe).

Facts

  • Unripe datils turn olive green, then lime green with a purple stripe, before ripening to bright yellow or glowing orange. [1]
  • The Minorcan-origin story is local legend. UF/IFAS states the exact origin is unknown. [1]

Hotter and milder

Datil compared

Compare Datil with any other pepper →

Questions

How hot is Datil?

Datil measures 100,000–300,000 SHU, with a typical figure of 200,000 SHU. That makes it a very hot pepper.

How many times hotter is Datil than a jalapeño?

About 40× a typical jalapeño (200,000 vs 5,000 SHU). Against the hottest jalapeños it is about 25×, and against the mildest about 80×.

Is Datil the hottest pepper in the world?

No. It ranks #13 in our verified ranking. The current record holder is Pepper X at 2,693,000 SHU.

Where does Datil come from?

St. Augustine, Florida, USA. UF/IFAS says its exact origin is unknown.

Is the Datil heat figure verified?

Lab tested: Measured by a university, government or peer-reviewed lab. UF/IFAS St.

Sources

  1. UF/IFAS Extension St. Johns County, Hort-3 'Gardening with Datil Peppers' (Aug 2017): origin caveat, SHU range, species, colours, flavour
  2. Wikipedia, Datil pepper: Cuba / S. B. Valls theory; no Mediterranean C. chinense at the time (secondary source)