Can you handle the heat on National Hot Sauce Day?

Bring the heat and flavor because it is time for National Hot Sauce Day

National Hot Sauce Day is on November 5, 2020. What’s your favorite hot sauce? Instead of dosing your dinner with your usual hot sauce, why not try a new flavor?

We often think of hot sauce being made in Texas, Louisiana or Mexico, when in actuality it is made in many countries around the world. With hundreds of hot sauces on our grocery store shelves, it’s easy to find a hot sauce that will surprise and delight your taste buds, made in a place maybe you least expected.

Virginia

Sky Valley Sriracha Sauce is made in Danville, Virginia. This sweet hot delicious sauce is made with the highest quality cayenne peppers, red jalapeños and garlic. Sky Valley’s website has lots of flavorful international recipes using their sauces: Spicy Black Bean Taquitos, Kimchi Burger and Blood Orange and Beet Salad with Herbs de Provence Dressing to name a few.

Zen Pepper Sauces are made in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Southwest Virginia. Created by a husband and wife team  Ryan and Chrissi Scherer, the sauce comes in three flavors: fire-roasted poblano, garlic sriracha and ginger habanero.

Clark and Hopkins Artisan Pepper Sauces are award-winning hot sauces made in Richmond, Virginia. Their selection of fabulous sauces are inspired by flavors from around the world. Kerala, Ethiopia, Laos, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, Oaxaca, Texas and Assam are represented in their pepper sauce line-up. Enjoy their peachy, peanut, jalapeno and habanero Virginia Pepper Sauce on a grilled grass fed ribeye. Laos Pepper Sauce gets its zing from thai-bird and habanero chilies It is the perfect spicy sauce for Crab Linguine. Enjoy their Texas Pepper Sauce on a Vermont Grass Fed Beef Burger with Cabot Cheddar, Pickled Onion, Jalapeno and Arugula. You’ll find all of the recipes on their website. One of my personal favorite Clark and Hopkins sauces is their Chesapeake Bay Pepper Sauce. I use it in my recipe for Chesapeake Bay Crab Dip.

Portland, Oregon

You’d be hardpressed to find an actual Aardvark in Oregon, but you will be pleased to find Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce.

Scott Moritz, a well known creative culinarian in Portland, created Aardvark hot sauce. The story behind the name is on the website:

When he was in his late teens, Scott and his friends read an editorial in the local paper that outlined the “Nine ways to identify a gang”. They thought the article was so ridiculous (as it only stereotyped social groups) that they wrote a satirical letter to the editor claiming to be a part of a gang called the “Secret Aardvarks”. The paper took them seriously and published a warning about the new gang, and he laughed about it until years later when he deemed his hot sauce worthy of the name. If you know, you know.

Made with habanero peppers and roasted tomatoes this unique Caribbean/Tex-Mex influenced sauce is popular as a sauce and marinade for meat and vegetables. Put it in your mashed potatoes, guacamole and those special Bloody Marys you will be mixing up for National Hot Sauce Day!

South Africa

PERi-PERi Sauce. As soon as you taste this sauce, you’ll want to put it on and in everything. It has a fresh and vibrant flavor, made with African bird’s-eye Chiles. Nando’s is one of the popular PERi-PERi sauces on the market and it comes in a variety of flavors: Lemon Herb, Mild, Medium, Hot, XX Hot, Garlic and Coconut Lemon. Their website has a bountiful list of recipes including Lemon Fish Tacos, Slow Cooker Turkey Meatballs and Grilled PERi-PERi Wings.

Mexico

Chile Crunch  is a “hot sauce” that you can really sink your teeth into – because it’s crunchy! Anything goes on National Hot Sauce Day! A  blend of fresh roasted chiles, garlic, onion, herbs, & spices sauteed in canola oil. The Chile Crunch website is full of dandy recipes including deviled eggs, Spicy Arrabiata Penne & Huevo Rancheros and Tacos Al Pastor, all made better with this spicy crunchy condiment!

Are your taste buds ready for National Hot Sauce Day? What hot sauce will you enjoy on this extra spicy holiday?