Below you will find an overview of the most frequently asked questions about hot sauce. Do you need information about shipping, paying methods, etcetera then check out our Customer Service page.
What’s the hottest sauce that you sell?
That has to be Hellfire Doomed Hot Sauce, with an official Scoville score of a whopping 2.7 million SHU. That’s insanely hot and this heat comes from the Habanero, Trinidad Scorpion and a natural chili extract of no less than 6.6 million Scoville Heat Units! Another hot sauce that just about destroys everyone who tries it is Da Bomb Beyond Insanity, which is also featured in the famous YouTube show Hot Ones. There it has been THE hot sauce that everyone has the most trouble with and it is without a doubt one of the most painful sauces we sell.
The hottest hot sauce without extracts, according to our own experiences, is Karma Ashes 2 Ashes. This sauce has more than 60% 7 Pot Primo Peppers (1,500,000 Scoville Heat Units) and literally sets everyone on fire. Besides that, it is also very tasty. At least, for people who are used to super hot sauces. Beginners will not taste much of the taste due to the enormous heat.
Why don’t you always mention the Scoville Heat Units of a hot sauce?
Unfortunately that’s impossible, because most brands don’t test their sauces officially for Scoville Heat Units (SHU). And when brands do put a SHU score on their sauce, it can be pretty misleading. We have tried sauces with 800,000 SHU that felt way less spicy then sauces with for example 135,000 SHU. For these two reasons it is almost impossible for us to advise people based on SHU scores.
How do your heat categories work?
Because most sauces don’t have an official Scoville rating we have created 5 categories ourselves: mild, medium hot, hot, very hot and extremely hot. Although spicyness can be different for everybody (everyone experience spicy differently), we try to make clear how spicy something is, based on these categories and our own experiences. Mild is for the beginners and you’ll hardly find any spicyness in this category. From medium hot, where you’ll find something like Sriracha, we’ll go up to extremely hot. You can compare mild to extremely hot with 1 flame up to 5 flames.
I’m not experienced with eating spicy food, but I would like to try a hot sauce. With which one can I start?
Our advise would be to start with a sauce from the mild or medium hot category. Here you’ll find hot sauces that are not too spicy for beginners. They are usually made with milder peppers or lower percentage of peppers and have additional ingredients that mild out the sauce.
Is hot sauce healthy?
Most hot sauces are very healthy, because the peppers in the sauces have a lot of health benefits. On every product page you’ll find the exact nutritional facts, but most hot sauces contain no or very little sugar and/or fat. We could even say that this makes hot sauce one of the most healthy sauces you can use. Definitely when you compare it to something like mayo, ketchup or the (super sweet) chili sauce you’ll find in the grocery store. They often contain lots of sugar and/or saturates.
With what dishes can I eat hot sauce?
With what dishes can’t you use hot sauce is a better question. We sell over 100 different hot sauces and you can always find a fitting sauce for every dish. It’s safe to say that hot sauce is the most versatile condiment of all. From pasta’s to hamburgers, from soups to currys, we eat hot sauce with everything. And when you pair the right hot sauce with the right dish it will only enhance the flavor of your dish. So keep on trying different hot sauces and you’ll be amazed by how well you can pair them with your everyday food.
Do I use hot sauce while cooking or do I use it as a table sauce?
Most hot sauces are mainly used as a table sauce. That means: you have already cooked your food, placed in on a plate and to add some extra flavor you add hot sauce. Just like you might do with pepper, salt or other sauces like ketchup. Ofcourse you can also use it while cooking, but then the sauce loses some of its flavor. We want to make an exception for extremely hot sauces like Hellfire Fiery Fool / Fear This. Sauces like these are mainly used (moderately) while cooking, because a drop can be enough to spice up an entire pan of food. Direct use on your plate might be to extreme for most users.
Do I have to store hot sauce in a fridge?
To be sure you could store them in a fridge or in a cool and dark spot. Just make sure that they are not constantly in the sun or get heated lots of times (by the stove of something). Also check the bottle, because when they say ‘refrigerate after opening’ on the bottle, you should just put it in a fridge after opening.
What is the shelf life of hot sauce?
In almost all hot sauces vinegar and hot peppers are the main ingredients. The high acidity of vinegar and the capsaicin in peppers are both natural conservatives and this gives hot sauce a very long shelf life. Still, the brands almost always put a ‘best before’ date on the bottle, so you can use that date to be sure. Keep in mind that a lot of the bottles are from the United States, where they show dates as following: month-day-year.
How can I improve my tolerance for spicy food and hot sauces?
The best way to improve your tolerance is to eat more spicy food and use hot sauce more often. This makes your tongue and the rest of your mouth get used to the sensation. Once you are used to a certain level of spicyness, you can try hotter food/sauces. Try these 5 steps to improve your heat tolerance.
What do I do when my mouth is on fire?
Unfortunately there is no real medicin. All you can do is wait until it’s over. Most people will say that milk helps, but that is only temporary. While it’s in your mouth it does cool down your tongue and mouth, but once you swallow it the heat comes back very quickly. Eventually you’ll just have to wait until the feeling goes away, but more importantly: try to enjoy the burn!
Do extremely hot sauces affect my taste buds?
No. The component in chili peppers that makes them hot (capsaicin) basically tricks the receptors on your tongue. This makes you feel as if your mouth is on fire, but in fact the receptors on your tongue produce a false alarm to your brain. It doesn’t make the pain any less, but your taste buds are not in danger. Do watch out with touching your eyes though, because that will hurt a lot.
Do you have another question that we didn’t answer above? Please contact us via e-mail or chat with us on Facebook or Instagram.
