Professional hot sauce maker Smokin’ Ed Currie, the founder and president of PuckerButt Pepper Company, returns to Epicurious to demystify hot sauce labels and classify some of the many varieties available into categories of hotness. Which ones come in on the mild side and which ones push the envelope on heat?
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00:00 I'm Smokin' Ed Curry.
00:01 I'm a professional hot sauce maker and pepper breeder.
00:04 There are a lot of different hot sauces
00:06 you can choose from, from all over the world.
00:09 And what they say is in the bottle
00:11 is not necessarily what's on the label.
00:14 We're gonna look at a few of them,
00:15 maybe some that you've heard of before
00:17 and maybe some you've never heard of before.
00:19 (upbeat music)
00:22 In an ingredient label, the very first thing you see
00:26 is going to be the predominant ingredient
00:29 in that hot sauce.
00:30 So if you see peppers as the first ingredient in hot sauce,
00:34 chances are it's gonna be pretty hot
00:37 if you see water or vinegar as the first.
00:40 It's gonna be liquidy and not that hot at all.
00:43 (upbeat music)
00:45 Tabasco.
00:48 If you look at the ingredients in Tabasco,
00:50 the first thing you see here is vinegar.
00:52 That's why it's so watery.
00:54 No heat at all.
00:56 Very vinegar for it, very salty.
00:59 Great on eggs though, great on eggs.
01:01 Texas Pete.
01:02 It says vinegar, aged peppers, water, xanthan gum.
01:07 Adding a little bit of xanthan makes it different
01:09 from Tabasco and it has a little bit more body.
01:12 The immediate hit is vinegar.
01:16 It has really no pepper flavor.
01:18 And then you taste the salt.
01:20 This is for people who just wanna add a little zing
01:23 to their collards or any other meal.
01:26 Now this is Cholula.
01:27 When you look at Cholula,
01:29 even though peppers are the second ingredient listed,
01:33 the majority of this bottle is water.
01:35 This one just tastes like salt.
01:38 General public, oh, I'm eating hot sauce.
01:41 Hot sauce consorts, this is not on the table.
01:45 Next we're gonna go to Cristal.
01:47 Aged red cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar,
01:50 and then more salt.
01:52 It doesn't have nearly the salt flavor
01:57 that those other three do.
01:58 This is probably the best tasting of the table sauces.
02:02 Frank's Red Hot.
02:03 With the salt mash and salt being
02:08 in the top three ingredients, very salt forward,
02:13 but it tastes great on food.
02:16 Sriracha, probably the most widely known hot sauce
02:20 in the world.
02:21 The red jalapeno peppers,
02:23 which they have listed as chilies.
02:25 They add sugar, salt, garlic, acidic acid,
02:28 potassium sorbate, and then xanthan gum to thicken it up.
02:31 Compared to a table sauce with less ingredients,
02:35 say like Texas Pete, where Sriracha,
02:39 just by using sugar and garlic,
02:41 gives it a little more complexity
02:43 and gives food a little more oomph.
02:46 (upbeat music)
02:48 Heartbeat Hot Sauce is one of my favorite to take home.
02:53 Number one ingredient, jalapenos.
02:56 Serrano peppers.
02:58 This is gonna be a very pepper forward sauce,
03:01 and it's gonna actually have flavor.
03:03 It almost tastes like you're eating
03:05 a fresh green jalapeno,
03:07 and everything else is a compliment to that pepper,
03:10 not overpowering that pepper.
03:12 Scotch bonnet pepper sauce.
03:14 Ingredients, water.
03:15 Scotch bonnet peppers, xanthan,
03:18 citric acid, potassium sorbate.
03:20 A lot of additives in there to make it shelf stable.
03:23 Very salt forward, not really that hot.
03:26 Melinda's, we're really starting
03:28 to get into hot sauces now.
03:30 The ingredients on it are red savina pepper mash.
03:34 It's got carrots in it, vinegar, onion, lime, garlic,
03:38 and then citric acid and xanthan.
03:40 Salt forward, pepper afterwards,
03:44 and that just comes from fermenting the peppers.
03:46 Jalapeno is somewhere around
03:48 three to 5,000 Scoville heat units.
03:50 Ghost pepper, maybe up to a million Scoville heat units,
03:54 so this is right about in the middle.
03:56 The next one we're gonna try
03:57 comes all the way up from Canada.
03:59 It's the ginger goat original.
04:01 Oh, it's so good.
04:05 The balance of the heat and flavor
04:07 is just about perfect on this sauce.
04:10 The first time I tried this sauce,
04:11 I said, "Oh, this would be good on chicken."
04:13 So we got some chicken.
04:15 When you put this sauce on food,
04:18 it tastes totally different.
04:20 The citrus tone doesn't come through first.
04:22 It's the heat from the Carolina Reaper.
04:24 And that little hint of turmeric and cilantro
04:27 allow things to bounce around in your mouth.
04:30 Everything tastes great.
04:31 So the mixture of all of them is really well blended,
04:34 and it gives the meat just that robust flavor
04:38 instead of a, you know, bland white chicken.
04:40 For someone who doesn't want salt
04:42 and wants a fresh pepper mash,
04:44 this is the one to start with.
04:46 I'm gonna go a little lower in heat on this one,
04:48 but a little higher in viscosity.
04:50 Strictly developed for chicken wings.
04:52 That little bit of sweet from the maple syrup
04:56 just goes a really long way.
04:57 This is a phenomenal sauce, even though I made it myself.
05:00 You really get that pepper-forward flavor.
05:03 This is the Puckerbutt Smoke & Ratcha.
05:05 It's got red habanero pepper mash,
05:08 distilled vinegar, red jalapeno pepper mash,
05:11 tomato paste, garlic, and pure cane sugar.
05:15 It's a really thick sauce.
05:17 It's majority pepper.
05:18 What makes it work is the blend of spices
05:23 and how the acidity in the tomato paste
05:25 complements the pepper.
05:27 So you get that bite,
05:28 but you don't get that overwhelming vinegar taste.
05:32 Caribe Jamaican Crushed Scotch Bonnet Pepper.
05:35 And you would think from the label
05:37 that it is just crushed Scotch bonnet peppers,
05:40 but the first ingredient is water,
05:42 then Scotch bonnet peppers, then vinegar.
05:45 And they thicken it with modified cornstarch
05:48 and then have potassium sorbate in as a preservative.
05:51 Even though it says crushed Scotch bonnet,
05:53 when you smell it, you can smell salt.
05:56 That pepper flavor comes through right away,
06:00 and those little chunks of pepper
06:01 are just bursting in my mouth.
06:04 Pleasantly bright.
06:05 Good job. I'm very surprised.
06:08 And next, we're gonna try a little bit of lo mein.
06:12 Chiba Gold is an amazing sauce.
06:14 I love it on Asian food.
06:16 The first flavor I get is the mustard,
06:19 and then that heat from those pepper combinations
06:22 just comes right on.
06:24 Those fatali peppers punch you really quick.
06:27 White House Station from over in New Jersey.
06:29 It's got Carolina Reaper.
06:31 You really don't taste the tomato paste.
06:36 The pepper is subtle, but the heat builds.
06:39 Like when you're having Carolina Reaper,
06:41 you first feel it in your throat,
06:43 and then it comes up and it comes up.
06:45 Baa Baa's Authentic Homemade If You Dare Barbecue Sauce.
06:53 Vinegar, tomato concentrate, vanilla, cherries,
06:56 berries, bourbon, clove, celery, spices, anchovies,
07:00 Carolina Reaper, Trinidad scorpion peppers.
07:03 You can call anything a Carolina Reaper hot sauce,
07:07 as long as it's a ingredient in that hot sauce.
07:11 But, you know, putting peppers at the very end
07:13 after all that other stuff,
07:15 how hot can it be when it's one of the last ingredients?
07:18 And it's got all those berries,
07:19 so it's gonna be really high in sugar.
07:21 I'm not expecting any heat at all.
07:24 The bourbon flavor came out more than anything else.
07:26 But there is absolutely no heat in this.
07:28 I'd put this in a baby bottle.
07:30 This is where you really gotta pay attention
07:32 to what's on the label of a hot sauce.
07:34 Pico Rico, it's a peri-peri style hot sauce.
07:37 The very first ingredient is bell pepper.
07:39 Bell peppers aren't that hot.
07:40 They have absolutely no heat at all.
07:43 I don't know if you saw that pouring out,
07:44 but there's chunks, and it's a very pretty looking sauce.
07:48 And a well-balanced sauce, actually.
07:53 Even though bell pepper is listed as the first ingredient,
07:57 you don't taste the bell pepper.
07:58 But this has no heat to me.
08:00 But it is a fantastic sauce.
08:02 I mean, it tastes great.
08:03 Oliveette, this is a jalapeno sauce.
08:06 The very first ingredient is Spanish olives.
08:09 I've never seen olives as being
08:11 the predominant ingredient in hot sauce.
08:14 Very, very mild.
08:17 Not pepper-forward, very olive-forward.
08:19 Good-tasting sauce, but I don't see that
08:23 as being a hot sauce.
08:25 Hillside Harvest, the number one ingredient in this
08:29 is distilled vinegar.
08:30 The second is pineapple juice, hot peppers,
08:33 and the fourth one is salt.
08:36 The sweetness of the pineapple came on.
08:39 I don't really taste any heat.
08:40 I would not call this a hot sauce.
08:42 I would call this a pepper sauce.
08:44 I love going to Chicago, and when I'm in Chicago,
08:47 I eat hot dogs.
08:47 They put pretty much a salad on top of their hot dogs.
08:51 So I made a hot sauce that has that in it.
08:53 This is like having pickle relish
08:56 with mustard in a hot sauce.
08:59 You get all the flavor of the cucumber, like it's relish.
09:03 You get all the flavor of the mustard,
09:05 but then that heat comes on.
09:06 The scotch bonnets pair well with everything,
09:08 so the flavor comes out afterward,
09:10 and the heat comes out right after that.
09:13 Taco vibes only.
09:18 It's a pretty hot sauce.
09:20 The ingredients, distilled white vinegar,
09:23 red serrano pepper, reaper pepper, lime juice,
09:26 ghost pepper, garlic scapes, salt, reaper pepper powder,
09:31 coriander, and cumin.
09:35 I got a little eye thing going,
09:36 and the dance going on in my mouth
09:38 with all those different flavors is just totally amazing.
09:41 This is the first one out of all these hot sauces
09:44 that made me break a sweat,
09:46 and I have a funny feeling there's gonna be
09:47 a lot more sweating going on.
09:49 Melita's habanero sauce.
09:51 Number one ingredient is fresh habanero peppers.
09:54 The flavor on this one is amazing,
09:59 and it's got that pepper-forward punch
10:01 and a little bit of sweetness.
10:03 Lucky Dog hot sauce.
10:04 Even though this is not for the faint of heart,
10:07 it's something you can try
10:08 if you wanna start going really hot.
10:11 Blueberries add a tartness to the pepper.
10:16 This is a good hot sauce.
10:17 We're gonna get into the really hot sauces now.
10:20 Pucker Bout's Chipotle Express hot sauce.
10:23 It has the pepper-ex pepper in it.
10:25 Chipotle goes really well on Indian street food.
10:31 That pepper-ex pepper is a punch to the face.
10:34 Then you get that smoky Chipotle flavor.
10:36 I got a good sweat going on,
10:38 but it just makes you want more.
10:40 The Pineapple Express.
10:42 Fresh pineapples, fresh lime juice,
10:44 yellow bell pepper, scotch bonnet pepper.
10:46 The scotch bonnet is really prominent in this.
10:50 It's a very pepper-forward sauce,
10:53 and it can be considered
10:54 one of the hotter hot sauces out there.
10:57 The APRA hot sauce.
10:59 The ingredients on this one.
11:01 Vinegar is first.
11:03 Apricots are second.
11:04 And apricots are a really fibrous fruit.
11:07 Chili peppers, lavender flavor concentrate,
11:10 lemon peel, and vanilla extract.
11:12 It's that bitter taste that you get from apricots.
11:18 It dances really well with the fresh taste
11:20 you have from the pepper.
11:21 This is probably one of the hottest fruit sauces
11:23 you're ever gonna taste.
11:24 This is the unique garlic.
11:26 Number one ingredient, chili peppers.
11:28 Now, you see how thick that is?
11:30 This is a majority of pepper.
11:32 My lip is glistening a little bit right now.
11:37 As you can tell, my head is glistening a little bit.
11:41 If you're just trying to get into super hot sauces,
11:44 do not start here.
11:45 This is where you work your way up to.
11:47 Most of you who know superhots have heard of the last app.
11:50 Carolina Reaper Pepper.
11:53 It is a very, very thick sauce.
11:56 That massive amount of Carolina Reaper Pepper
11:59 is just taking my breath away.
12:01 My nose is running, my eyes are watering,
12:04 I can't see my food right now.
12:06 I'm having an experience in my mouth.
12:08 The only thing that's gonna heat me up even more right now
12:11 is adding a little bit of Reaper Squeezings on the top.
12:14 I use Reaper Squeezings on everything.
12:16 It is horrid.
12:18 Don't do this at home.
12:19 This is only for people who are professionals.
12:21 Boom.
12:24 That is an amazing sauce.
12:26 And if you're just trying sauces like Tabasco and Cholula
12:30 and that, don't go anywhere near Reaper Squeezings.
12:33 When you've worked your way
12:34 through all these different kinds of sauces
12:37 and all these levels of heat and all these levels of flavor,
12:40 you're gonna get to these two
12:42 and you won't need anything else ever again.
12:44 These are the ones that will pair with any dish.
12:46 I decided to introduce the new hottest pepper in the world,
12:51 which is going to be PepperX.
12:53 PepperX, chocolate, PepperX, peach, PepperX.
12:57 The heat on this is gonna be just brutal.
13:01 I might've put a little too much on there.
13:06 The punch that's packed with that pepper
13:09 just makes your mouth salivate.
13:10 So the Apollo Pepper has these ingredients.
13:13 Apollo, distilled vinegar, Apollo pepper powder,
13:17 and Apollo Distillate.
13:19 Distillate is essentially just pepper oil.
13:21 I happen to use the highest proof alcohol available
13:26 to boil down peppers and extract the oils.
13:28 This jar right here has approximately
13:31 500 pounds of peppers in it.
13:33 They asked me to kick it up again.
13:36 What can I do?
13:37 I give them a new pepper.
13:38 Oh, excuse me, I picked up the wrong one.
13:40 I am stoned out of my mind.
13:43 When you're getting this hot,
13:44 having turmeric and mustard and things in your sauce,
13:47 that's all fine and dandy,
13:49 but you don't get a chance to taste any of it.
13:51 We are chasing the heat.
13:53 Right now, my nose is running so hard
13:57 that I've just got it running down the back of my throat.
13:59 Again, I'm kind of going blind
14:01 'cause there's so much water in my eyes.
14:03 I can't see, but the flavor on this pepper is phenomenal.
14:08 People say hot sauce is on ice cream.
14:14 It's one of the best experiences you can have.
14:16 Hot and cold, sweet and sour at the same time,
14:19 an amazing thing.
14:20 We've got a chocolate strawberry hot sauce.
14:23 So the ingredients on this one are strawberries,
14:26 vinegar, chili pepper, cocoa powder,
14:28 spices, vanilla extract, lemon peel, and orange peel.
14:31 And it's a pretty thick sauce.
14:32 Even though this is a cherry vanilla ice cream,
14:36 the flavor of the cacao gave it kind of a chocolate tone.
14:40 One of my favorite things growing up was brandy cherries.
14:43 So I decided to make a hot sauce with brandy cherries.
14:46 And this one has dark cherries, vinegar, chili peppers,
14:49 brandy, spices, cocoa powder, vanilla extract,
14:53 lemon peel, orange peel.
14:54 I highly recommend you find a fruit sauce near you
15:00 and give this a try.
15:01 It's gonna be a culinary experience you'll never forget.
15:04 We've tried a lot of hot sauces
15:06 with flavors from all around the world.
15:08 We've gone from mild to wild.
15:10 Making educated decisions
15:12 when you're buying your hot sauce is very important.
15:15 Remember that you can always get hotter,
15:18 but you can never go backwards.
15:20 Enjoy your sauce.
15:21 (upbeat music)