Mexican hot sauce has traditionally been one of the most popular condiments in Mexico as well as across the southern part of the United States. In the last several years the popularity of hot sauce as increased dramatically as to the point that it is now found in almost every kitchen throughout North and South America. It is also very popular in Europe and other parts of the world.
Mexican hot sauce comes in a variety of different brands and is made with a variety of different types of peppers, spices and ingredients. Each brand is slightly different and each is also uniquely blended to just the desired degree of heat. You can select from very mild sauces to fiery hot options, it is all up to your personal taste preference.
Peppers for Heat
The heat of Mexican hot sauce comes from the peppers that are used in the sauce. Many sauces use a mixture of hot and mild peppers while others feature just one pepper. All peppers are graded for heat on the Scoville Scale. It is actually the level of capsaicin in the pepper that is measured, and the scale is standardized and used worldwide.
Hot sauces that use poblano, jalapeno, chipotle, New Mexican and Guajillo peppers are going to provide a slight kick, but are typically a good match for most people that like a light to moderate amount of heat.
Moving up the scale to a medium heat look for Mexican hot sauces that feature Serrano and Aleppo peppers as well as the Chiltepin pepper. The hottest sauces will include Habanero chili peppers.
Hot Sauce or Salsa?
For most people the difference between hot sauce and salsa is a bit foggy. For most Mexican hot sauce varieties the bottles will contain a thin liquid that is spicy, vibrant and a real boost to any food. On the other hand salsa will be chunkier and often contains a lot of different ingredients in chopped up form.
Mexican hot sauce is a great change from ketchup to spice up your morning scrambled eggs, your afternoon bowl of soup and your evening steak, chicken or fish. Once you get started using hot sauce you won’t have trouble finding more ways use this versatile condiment.
