CAN ANYONE MAKE HOT SAUCE?

Yes! anyone with a decent number of peppers, a few ingredients, a stove and a blender (or something similar) can make hot sauce. There’s no magic here just the love of the sauce.

WHAT CANCELS OUT HOT SAUCE?

Ok, so you’ve either made your sauce super-hot or you’ve let an unsuspecting victim friend or family member, test it for you. A lot of people will drink water…don’t do this as all you are doing is washing the heat around your mouth but not actually washing it away. Some people theorise that the fat molecules in milk will encapsulate the Capsaicin and thus nullifying it, they may be right as milk does help a bit. On occasion in the past, I have used a thick piece of bread to help dampen the heat but the best thing you can use is acidic ingredients such as lemon/lime juice, wine, tomatoes or pineapple. This helps neutralise the pH levels of the chilli oil in your mouth.

WHICH VINEGAR IS BEST FOR HOMEMADE HOT SAUCE?

The Vinegar you choose is going to add the sweetness to the flavour profile of your hot sauce so there are different options available to you. The most used vinegar for Hot Sauce is distilled white vinegar as it’s cheap and adds a strong sweetness to the sauce. This is used a lot in Louisiana Style Hot Sauces like Franks Hot Sauce and Tabasco. White Wine Vinegar is another option but adds a more subtle flavour and if you want to focus on the flavour from your peppers then something like rice vinegar is the best option.

HOW LONG IS HOT SAUCE GOOD FOR?

Once opened your Hot Sauce is going to be good for about a week in the refrigerator. While vinegar is used as a preservative in pickling, your hot sauce won’t last as long due to the additional ingredients (I’m looking at your Garlic). However, if you have access to bottling equipment then a properly sealed bottle of Hot Sauce could last up to five years.

CAN I FREEZE HOMEMADE HOT SAUCE?

Some people like to make Hot Sauce in big batches as it works out cheaper in the long run so it’s totally fine to freeze any sauce that you’re not going to use in the immediate future. You’re going to want to wait for the sauce to cool before placing it into an airtight container or ziplock bag. The last thing you want is frost getting into your sauce. When you are ready to use some of your frozen stash, sim ply let it defrost in the refrigerator and give it a good mix before using.

WHAT IS THE HOTTEST SAUCE IN THE WORLD?

The hottest pepper on record is the Carolina Reaper which clocks in at a maximum of 2.2 million Scovilles (although the grower of the Reaper, Ed Currie has grown Pepper X which is unverified at 3.18 million Scovilles) but the hottest Hot sauce is ‘Mad Dog 357 Plutonium No. 9’ which clocks in at a head melting, scream inducing, toilet fearing 9 MILLION SCOVILLES!

Now you might be wondering how a hot sauce is hotter than actual peppers but th answer is simple. Capsaicin is the component of peppers that make them hot, so mad scientists have extracted this from peppers and then cultivated hotter and hotter variations of Hot Sauce.

more: What is the Scoville Scale?

Scott

I’m the guy behind The Chilli Expert. I’m always learning new things about growing, cooking and eating Chillies which I hope I can share with you all.