Pepper Master Ed Currie Ranks Hot Sauces From Weakest To Hottest

I'm Smokin' Ed Currie.

I'm a professional hot sauce maker and pepper breeder.

的re are a lot of different hot sauces you can choose from

from all over the world,

and what they say is in the bottle

is not necessarily what's on the label.

We're gonna look at a few of them,

maybe some that you've heard of before

and maybe some you've never heard of before.

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In an ingredient label,

the very first thing you see is going to be

the predominant ingredient in that hot sauce.

So, if you see peppers as the first ingredient in hot sauce,

chances are, it's gonna be pretty hot.

If you see water or vinegar as the first,

it's gonna be liquidy and not that hot at all.

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Tabasco.

If you look at the ingredients in Tabasco,

the first thing you see here is vinegar.

That's why it's so watery.

No heat at all.

Very vinegar-forward, very salty.

Great on eggs, though, great on eggs.

Texas Pete, it says vinegar, aged peppers,

water, xanthan gum.

Adding a little bit of xanthan

makes it different from Tabasco

and it has a little bit more body.

的immediate hit is vinegar.

It has really no pepper flavor,

and then you taste the salt.

This is for people who just wanna add a little zing

to their collards or any other meal.

Now, this is Cholula.

When you look at Cholula,

even though peppers are the second ingredient listed,

the majority of this bottle is water.

This one just tastes like salt.

General public, Oh, I'm eating hot sauce.

Hot sauce connoisseurs, this is not on the table.

Next, we're gonna go to Crystal.

Aged red cayenne peppers,

distilled vinegar, and then more salt.

It doesn't have nearly the salt flavor

that those other three do.

This is probably the best-tasting of the table sauces.

Frank's Red Hot.

With the salt mash and salt

being in the top three ingredients,

very salt forward,

but it tastes great on food.

Sriracha, probably the most widely-known

hot sauce in the world.

的red jalapeno peppers, which they have listed as chiles.

的y add sugar, salt, garlic,

acetic acid, potassium sorbate,

and then xanthan gum to thicken it up.

Compared to a table sauce with less ingredients,

say, like Texas Pete,

where Sriracha just by using sugar and garlic

gives it a little more complexity

and gives food a little more oomph.

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Heartbeat Hot Sauce is one of my favorite to take home.

Number one ingredient, jalapenos, serrano peppers.

This is gonna be a very pepper-forward sauce,

and it's gonna actually have flavor.

It almost tastes like you're eating a fresh, green jalapeno

and everything else is a complement to that pepper,

not overpowering that pepper.

Scotch bonnet pepper sauce.

Ingredients, water, Scotch bonnet peppers,

xanthan, citric acid, potassium sorbate.

A lot of additives in there to make it shelf stable.

Very salt-forward, not really that hot.

Melinda's.

We're really starting to get into hot sauces, now.

的ingredients on it are Red Savina pepper mash.

It's got carrots in it, vinegar, onion, lime, garlic,

and then citric acid and xanthan.

Salt-forward, pepper afterwards.

And that just comes from fermenting the peppers.

A jalapeno is somewhere around

3000年到5000年库法理热量单位。

Ghost pepper, maybe up to a million Scoville heat units,

so this is right about in the middle.

的next one we're gonna try comes

all the way up from Canada.

It's the Ginger Goat Original.

Oh, it's so good.

的balance of the heat and flavor

is just about perfect on this sauce.

的first time I tried this sauce,

I said, Oh, this would be good on chicken.

[magical chiming] So, we got some chicken.

When you put this sauce on food,

it tastes totally different.

的citrus tone doesn't come through first,

it's the heat from the Carolina Reaper.

And that little hint of turmeric and cilantro

allow things to bounce around in your mouth.

Everything tastes great,

so the mixture of all of them is really well blended

and it gives the meat just that robust flavor

instead of a bland white chicken.

For someone who doesn't want salt

and wants a fresh pepper mash,

this is the one to start with.

I'm gonna go a little lower in heat on this one,

but a little higher in viscosity,

strictly developed for chicken wings.

That little bit of sweet from the maple syrup

just goes a really long way.

This is a phenomenal sauce, even though I made it myself.

You really get that pepper-forward flavor.

This is the PuckerButt Smokin' Racha.

It's got red habanero pepper mash, distilled vinegar,

red jalapeno pepper mash, tomato paste, garlic,

and pure cane sugar.

It's a really thick sauce.

It's majority pepper.

What makes it work is the blend of spices

and how the acidity in the tomato paste

complements the pepper so you get that bite,

but you don't get that overwhelming vinegar taste.

Carib Jamaican crushed Scotch bonnet pepper.

And you would think from the label

that it is just crushed Scotch bonnet peppers,

but the first ingredient is water.

的n Scotch bonnet peppers, then vinegar,

and they thicken it with modified corn starch,

and then have potassium sorbate in as a preservative.

Even though it says crushed Scotch bonnet,

when you smell it, you can smell salt.

That pepper flavor comes through right away,

an those little chunks of pepper

are just bursting in my mouth.

Pleasantly bright.

Good job, I'm very surprised.

And next, we're gonna try a little bit of lo mein.

Cheeba Gold is amazing sauce.

I love it on Asian food.

的first flavor I get is the mustard,

and then that heat from those pepper combinations

just comes right on.

Those Fatalii peppers punch you really quick.

White House Station from over in New Jersey.

It's got Carolina Reaper.

You really don't taste the tomato paste.

的pepper is subtle, but the heat builds.

When you're having Carolina Reaper,

you first feel it in your throat,

and then it comes up and it comes up.

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BawBaw's Authentic Homemade If You Dare barbecue sauce.

Vinegar, tomato concentrate, vanilla, cherries, berries,

bourbon, cloves, celery, spices, anchovies,

Carolina Reaper, Trinidad scorpion peppers.

You can call anything a Carolina Reaper hot sauce

as long as it's a ingredient in that hot sauce.

But putting peppers at the very end

after all that other stuff,

how hot can it be when it's one of the last ingredients?

And it's got all those berries,

so it's gonna be really high in sugar.

I'm not expecting any heat at all.

的bourbon flavor came out more than anything else,

but there is absolutely no heat in this.

I'd put this in a baby bottle.

This is where you really gotta pay attention

to what's on the label of a hot sauce.

Pico Riko, it's a peri peri-style hot sauce.

的very first ingredient is bell pepper.

Bell peppers aren't that hot.

的y have absolutely no heat at all.

I don't know if you saw that pouring out,

but there's chunks,

and it's a very pretty-looking sauce.

And a well-balanced sauce, actually.

Even though bell pepper is listed as the first ingredient,

you don't taste the bell pepper.

But this has no heat to me.

But it is a fantastic sauce.

I mean, it tastes great.

Olive It.

This is a jalapeno sauce.

的very first ingredient is Spanish olives.

I've never seen olives

as being the predominant ingredient in hot sauce.

Very, very mild.

Not pepper-forward, very olive-forward.

Good-tasting sauce,

but I don't see that as being a hot sauce.

Hillside Harvest.

的number one ingredient in this is distilled vinegar.

的second is pineapple juice, hot peppers,

and the fourth one is salt.

的sweetness of the pineapple came on.

I don't really taste any heat.

I would not call this a hot sauce.

I would call this a pepper sauce.

I love going to Chicago,

and when I'm in Chicago, I eat hot dogs.

的y put pretty much a salad on top of their hot dogs.

So, I made a hot sauce that has that in it.

This is like having pickle relish

with mustard in a hot sauce.

You get all the flavor of the cucumber, like it's relish.

You get all the flavor of the mustard.

But then that heat comes on.

的Scotch bonnets pair well with everything

so that flavor comes out afterward

and the heat comes out right after that.

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Taco Vibes Only.

It's a pretty hot sauce.

的ingredients, distilled white vinegar,

red serrano pepper, Reaper pepper, lime juice,

ghost pepper, garlic scapes, salt,

Reaper pepper powder, coriander, and cumin.

I got a little eye thing going,

and the dance going on in my mouth

with all those different flavors is just totally amazing.

This is the first one out of all these hot sauces

that made me break a sweat,

and I have a funny feeling

there's gonna be a lot more sweating going on.

Maletta's habanero sauce.

Number one ingredient is fresh habanero peppers.

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的flavor on this one is amazing

and it's got that pepper-forward punch

and the little bit of sweetness.

Lucky Dog hot sauce.

Even though this is not for the faint of heart,

it's something you can try

if you wanna start going really hot.

Blueberries add a tartness to the pepper.

This is a good hot sauce.

We're gonna get into the really hot sauces now.

PuckerButt's Chipotle eXpress hot sauce.

It has the Pepper X pepper in it.

Chipotle goes really well on Indian street food.

That Pepper X pepper is a punch to the face.

的n, you get that smoky chipotle flavor.

I got a good sweat going on,

but it just makes you want more.

的Pineapple XXXpress.

Fresh pineapples, fresh lime juice,

yellow bell pepper, Scotch bonnet pepper.

的Scotch bonnet is really prominent in this.

It's a very pepper-forward sauce

and it can be considered

one of the hotter hot sauces out there.

的Aprichot sauce.

的ingredients on this one,

vinegar is first, apricots are second,

and apricots are a really fibrous fruit.

Chile peppers, lavender flavor concentrate,

lemon peel, and vanilla extract.

It's that bitter taste that you get from apricots

dances really well with the fresh taste

you have from the pepper.

This is probably one of the hottest fruit sauces

you're ever gonna taste.

This is the Unique Garlique.

Number one ingredient, chile peppers.

Now, you see how thick that is?

This is a majority of pepper.

My lip is glistening a little bit right now.

As you can tell, my head is glistening a little bit.

If you're just trying to get into super hot sauces,

do not start here.

This is where you work your way up to.

Most of you who know super hots

have heard of The Last Dab.

Carolina Reaper pepper.

It is a very, very thick sauce.

That massive amount of Carolina Reaper Pepper

is just taking my breath away.

My nose is running, my eyes are watering.

I can't see my food right now.

I'm having an experience in my mouth.

的only thing that's gonna heat me up even more right now

is adding a little bit of Reaper Squeezins on the top.

I use Reaper Squeezins on everything.

It is horrid.

Don't do this at home.

这仅仅是为专业人士。

[drums pounding]

[explosion booming] Boom.

That is an amazing sauce.

And if you're just trying sauces

like Tabasco and Cholula and that,

don't go anywhere near Reaper Squeezins.

[skull screaming]

When you've worked your way

through all these different kinds of sauces

and all these levels of heat and all these levels of flavor,

you're gonna get to these two

and you won't need anything else ever again.

的se are the ones that will pair with any dish.

I decided to introduce the new hottest pepper in the world,

也就是to be Pepper X.

Pepper X, Chocolate Pepper X, Peach Pepper X.

的heat on this is gonna be just brutal.

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I might have put a little too much on there.

的punch that's packed with that pepper

just makes your mouth salivate.

的Apollo pepper has these ingredients.

Apollo, distilled vinegar, Apollo pepper powder,

and Apollo distillate.

Distillate is essentially just pepper oil.

I happen to use the highest proof alcohol available

to boil down peppers and extract the oils.

This jar right here has approximately

500 pounds of peppers in it.

的y asked me to kick it up again.

What can I do?

I give them a new pepper.

Oh, excuse me, I picked up the wrong one.

I am stoned out of my mind.

When you're getting this hot,

having turmeric and mustard and things in your sauce,

that's all fine and dandy,

but you don't get a chance to taste any of it.

We are chasing the heat.

Right now, my nose is running so hard

that I've just got it running down the back of my throat.

Again, I'm kinda going blind

'cause it's so much water in my eyes I can't see.

But the flavor on this pepper is phenomenal.

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People say hot sauces on ice cream,

it's one of the best experiences you can have.

Hot and cold, sweet and sour at the same time,

an amazing thing.

We've got a chocolate strawberry hot sauce.

的ingredients on this one are strawberries,

vinegar, chile pepper, cocoa powder, spices,

vanilla extract, lemon peel, and orange peel.

And it's a pretty thick sauce.

Even though this is a cherry vanilla ice cream,

the flavor of the cacao gave it kind of a chocolate tone.

One of my favorite things growing up was brandied cherries,

so I decided to make a hot sauce with brandied cherries.

And this one has dark cherries, vinegar,

chile peppers, brandy, spices, cocoa powder,

vanilla extract, lemon peel, orange peel.

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I highly recommend you find a fruit sauce near you

and give this a try.

It's gonna be a culinary experience you'd never forget.

We've tried a lot of hot sauces

with flavors from all around the world.

We've gone from mild to wild.

Making educated decisions

when you're buying your hot sauce is very important.

Remember that you can always get hotter,

but you can never go backwards.

Enjoy your sauce.