Hot Sauces

Hot sauce, chili sauce, or pepper sauce refer to any spicy sauce made from chili peppers and other ingredients. There are many vareties from throughout the world.

Ingredients

There are countless recipes for chili sauces, and the only thing they share in common is the use of chili peppers. The peppers are infused in anything from vinegar, oil, and alcohol to fruits and vegetable pulp. Additional ingredients are often used, including, on occasions, those used to add extra heat, such as pure capsaicin extract and mustards.

Styles of chili sauce

• United States: Most often called hot sauces, they are typically made from chili pepper, vinegar and salt. Peppers used are often of the varieties Cayenne, Jalapeño and Habanero. Chipotles (smoked jalapeños) are also common. Some hot sauces, notably Tabasco sauce, are aged in wooden casks similar to the preparation of wine and fermented vinegar. Other ingredients, including fruits and vegetables such as raspberries, mangoes, carrots, and chayote squash are sometimes used to add flavor, mellow the heat of the chilis, and thicken the sauce's consistency.
  • Louisiana-style: the most popular style in America. Louisiana-style hot sauce contains red chili peppers (Tabasco and/or Cayenne are the most popular), vinegar and water. Occasionally salt and/or Xanthan gum or other thickeners are used.
    • Frank's RedHot
    • Louisiana Hot Sauce
    • Crystal Hot Sauce
    • Texas Pete
    • Tabasco sauce
  • A comparatively mild chili sauce is produced by Heinz and other manufacturers, and is frequently found in cookbooks in the U.S. This sauce is based on tomatoes, green and/or red bell peppers, and spices. Chili peppers may or may not be included in the recipe, but if so, in relatively small proportions. This sauce is more akin to tomato ketchup and cocktail sauce than predominantly chili pepper based sauces.^{[1] [2]}
• Mexico - Mexican hot sauce typically focuses more on flavor than on intense heat. The sauces are hot, but the individual flavors of the peppers are pronounced. Vinegar is used sparingly or not at all. Chipotle (dried and smoked jalapeño peppers) are a very popular ingredient of Mexican hot sauce. Some sauces produced in Mexico are high vinegar-content Louisiana-style sauces. Mexican style sauces are also produced internationally (e.g. Kaitaia Fire in New Zealand).
  • El Yucateco, the best selling sauces in Mexico
  • Valentina, a traditional Mexican sauce
  • Búfalo, a popular Mexican sauce
  • Cholula hot sauce, a versatile Mexican Hot Sauce
  • Tapatío hot sauce, the most common Mexican salsa picante in the US
  • Chile de Arbol very hot, similar to cayenne peppers, used in the popular Torta Ahogada dish
• Asia
  • China. Chinese chilli sauces usually come as a thick paste, and are used either as a dipping sauce or in stirfrying.
    • Dou Ban Sauce (Dou ban jiang), originates from Szechuan cuisine in which chilis are used liberally. It is made from broad bean paste, and usually contain a fair amount of chili. Often referred to in English as Chili Bean Sauce.
    • Guilin chili sauce made of fresh chili, garlic and fermented soya beans. Also marketed as soy chilli sauce.
  • Thailand
    • Sriracha - made from sun-ripened chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt. Traditionally used as a dipping sauce for seafood in Thailand, but often used elsewhere in a wide variety of foods.
    • Thai sweet chilli sauce. Used as a dipping sauce. Mae Ploy is a leading manufacturer.
  • Japan
    • Okinawa - Koregusu made of chillis infused in awamori rice spirit, is a popular condiment to Okinawan dishes such as Okinawa soba.
• West Indies - Hot pepper sauces, as they are most commonly known there, feature heavily in Caribbean cuisine. Like American-style sauces, they are made from chili peppers and vinegar, with fruits and vegetables added for extra flavour. The most common peppers used are habanero and scotch bonnet, the latter being the most common in Jamaica. Both are very hot peppers, making for strong sauces (e.g. Capt'n Sleepy's Quintessential Habanero, or Matouk's). Over the years each island developed its own distinctive recipes, and home-made sauces are still common.
  • Haiti - Sauce Ti-malice, typically made with habanero, shallots, lime juice, garlic and sometimes tomatoes
  • Martinique
  • Puerto Rico
    • Pique - habaneros with orange
    • Sofrito - small piquins ("bird peppers") with annatto seeds, coriander leaves, onions, garlic, and tomatoes
  • Jamaica - Scotch bonnets are the most popular peppers used on Jamaica. They are often pounded with fruits such as mango, papaya and tamarind.
    • Pickapeppa Sauce
  • Virgin Islands - Asher (from "limes ashore"), made with lime, habaneros, cloves, allspice, salt, vinegar, and garlic.
  • Belize - Melinda's, made with habaneros, carrots, onions
    • Marie Sharp's- found on every table in Belize
    • Hot Mama's - The other Hot Sauce from Belize, winner at the 2006 Fiery Food Challenge with its Sweet Pepper Sauce

Heat

The heat, or burning sensation, experienced when consuming hot sauce is caused by capsaicin. The burning sensation is not "real" in the sense of damage being wrought on tissues. In fact, it is merely a harmless chemical reaction with the body's neurological system (see this technical explanation).

The seemingly subjective perceived heat of hot sauces can be measured by the Scoville scale. The Scoville scale number indicates how many times something must be diluted with an equal volume water until people can no longer feel any sensation from the capsaicin. The hottest hot sauce scientifically possible is one rated at 16,000,000 Scoville units, which is pure capsaicin. Examples of hot sauces marketed as achieving this level of heat are Blair's 16 Million Reserve (due to production variances, it's up to 16 million Scoville units) marketed by Blair's Sauces & Snacks. By comparison, Tabasco sauce is rated between 2,500 and 5,000 Scoville units (batches vary) - with one of the mildest commercially available chile condiments, Cackalacky Classic Condiment Company's Spice Sauce, weighing in at less than 1000 Scoville units on the standard heat scale. Extremely hot novelty sauces generally do not have sophisticated or pleasing flavors.

An easy way to determine the heat of a sauce they are considering is to look at the ingredients. Sauces tend to vary in heat by the ingredients in them.

• Jalapeño - These sauces include green and red jalapeño chilis, and chipotle. Green jalapeño and chipotle are usually the mildest sauces available. However, red jalapeño sauce is generally hotter.

• Cayenne/Chile - Sauces made with cayenne and/or other red chilis, including most of the Louisiana-style sauces, are usually hotter than jalapeño but milder than other sauces.

• Tabasco - Sauces made with tabasco peppers, like Tabasco sauce, are generally hotter than cayenne pepper sauces. Along with Tabasco, a number of "extra hot" sauces are made using a combination of tabasco and cayenne or other chili peppers.

• Habanero - Habanero pepper sauces are the hottest natural pepper sauces. They contain either habanero only, or a combination of habanero and other peppers.

• Peri-Peri - Also known as the African Birds Eye Chili, the unique characteristics of sauces made with this pepper is the delayed sensation of heat when consumed. This allows the consumer to taste their food first then experience the heat.

• Extract - the hottest sauces are made from capsaicin extract. These range from extremely hot pepper sauce blends to pure capsaicin extracts. These sauces are extremely hot and should be considered with caution by those not used to fiery foods. Many are too hot to consume more than a drop or two in a pot of food. These novelty sauces are typically only sold by specialty retailers.

• Other ingredients - heat is also affected by other ingredients. Many sauces contain tomatoes, carrots (in habanero sauces), onions, garlic or other vegetables and seasonings. Generally, more ingredients in a sauce dilute the effect of the chilis, resulting in a milder flavor.

Remedies for pain caused by eating chiles

Capsaicin, the chemical responsible for the "hot" taste of chili peppers. The most effective way to relieve the burning sensation it causes is to cool the mouth and throat with any cool food or cool beverages including tap water or ice water. Also the mechanical stimulation of the mouth by chewing food will partially mask the pain sensation.

Milk and milk products are also often effective in diminishing the effects of capsaicin. Particularly fermented milk products such as yogurt and sour cream.

Cooling and mechanical stimulation are the only proven methods to relieve the pain, however many questionable tips are widely perpetuated. Since capsaicin in its pure state is not very soluble in water but dissolves in oils, some suggest eating fatty foods or beverages (i.e.: whole milk), assuming that these will carry away the capsaicin. The value of this practice is questionable and the burning sensation will slowly fade away even if you don't do anything.