Chili, Salt, Vinegar

In Southern Louisiana, inland of Vermillion Bay, Avery Island (*which is not actually an island) is home to legacy hot sauce brand Tabasco. Here, the factory sits upon a salt dome, which provides one of the three major ingredients of the famed condiment. The chilies are grown on the island itself, while the vinegar is distilled. Hot sauce is supposed to be, er, hot — in many, vinegar is there as a counterpoint, taking its fierce fieriness and making the flavor experience more holistic and frankly, palatable. But as we’ve progressed in pepper cultivation, vinegar has stayed subsidiary.

While most heat seekers have their favorites, be it for wings (e.g. Frank’s Red Hot), or the trusted taco trio of Cholula, Tapatio, and Valentino, there are plenty of hotheads trying to out scorch each other, as seen on the shelves of Brooklyn-based capsaicin emporium Heatonist, or the scoville-rated show Hot Ones where host Sean Evans eats progressively pungent dabs of hot sauce with celebrities, all while conducting an interview, ultimately landing at The Last Dab. But a new breed of entrepreneurs are employing a more balanced approach to heat and acid, highlighting hot sauce’s piquancy without melting your face off.

The Carolina Reaper, once known as the spiciest pepper on earth (only recently surpassed by Pepper X), pushed the limit; Geoff Rhyne, co-founder and chef of Red Clay Hot Sauce, in Charleston, South Carolina, didn’t want the aforementioned pepper to define the refinement home state hot sauces. Instead, Rhyne aimed to elevate all ingredients involved, including vinegar. “Most hot sauces used distilled white vinegar — you’d never make a vinaigrette for a butter lettuce salad using that,” he declares. Rhyne began to experiment, building hot sauces the way he would mother sauces in a professional kitchen — not wanting to rely on the perfunctory method of masking heat with sugar. Rhyne wanted to highlight heat with acid, dialing in specific vinegars per pepper. 

“When people talk about differentiators, it comes down to ingredients,” says Rhyne, who began playing around with chef cult-favorites Fresno, Pequin aka bird peppers, and Cayenne as well, Tabasco’s chili of choice. While their peppers may vary, Rhyne asserts, “I can definitely discern vinegar between us and Tabasco — theirs is almost acrid on the palate, [whereas our] vinegar shows more nuance.”(Note: Tabasco Family Reserve does use premium white wine vinegar.) Vinegar helps the pepper’s flavors to fluoresce, but it’s also a flavor in its own rite. 

Rhyne uses barrel-aged white wine vinegar, a sherry vinegar, or even apple cider vinegar, all of which have more body and character than distilled white. Unwilling to divulge names, Rhyne says he works with a local vinegar maker  “who makes proprietary custom blends (of vinegar) for us,” after having used French vinegar company Beaufor before supply chain issues struck. This change meant more control. In their Carolina Hot Sauce, the addition of sherry vinegar is inspired by the Spanish influence of St. Augustine, Florida, a confluence of chiles and culture, and where the datil pepper is grown. Cider vinegar graces their green Verde Hot Sauce, which Rhyne describes as “zesty, herbaceous serrano peppers — and the addition of cilantro, fennel and onion,” and needed the fruit to balance it out, worrying that anything darker (e.g. red wine vinegar) would overpower it.

For Forts Ferry Farm in Latham, New York, near Albany, it was about expressing the essence of peppers while they were at their peak. Run by former NYC chef, Emma Hearst, had a distinct vision and flavor profile for her three vinegar-based hot sauces, which range in color and heat: mild green (charred poblanos, jalapeños and serranos, plus tomatillos), an orange Tex-Mex medium (sweet Habanada, habanero, and citrusy Orange Glow), to a red hot, featuring cayenne, fresno, aji dulce, Leutschauer Paprika, tabasco, and Chocolate 7 Pot peppers. And she’s just launched a new hue: a special yellow bottling made from  tropical lemon drop and sugar rush peppers for sweetness, and datil and sarit gat for heat, cut by earthy amarillo carrots. “We typically use Marukan rice vinegar, except in the red one, where we use a combo of white distilled and rice, to give it a little more punch,” Hearst asserts. “The most important thing vinegar provides [for us] is pH, making something shelf stable,” remarks “Whole peppers are the hardest thing to move in a retail farm environment — they are also one of the last remaining produce items that are not mechanized, so they’re hand-harvested, labor intensive,” Hearst relays. In other words, more than enough reason to use vinegar to turn them into many value added products.

Whereas for Andre Springer, aka Shaquanda Coca Mulatta, making hot sauce was a labor of love, and an extension of a drag alter ego. After having worked in restaurants, and as a performance artist, Springer discovered that hot sauce could be an unlikely  fourth wall between the two. Shaquanda’s Hot Pepper Sauce made its first stage appearance in 2013 when Simon Leahy asked Springer to perform at Bushwig. Part prop, part passion project, Shaquanda’s homemade hot sauces were handed out in character, from a shopping cart on stage, and later that night along the streets of Bushwick, Brooklyn. People raved in both forums and demanded more.

“It was fun and interesting to do something with food and my Caribbean heritage — a pop Wharholian investigation, like the Campbell’s soup thing, but make it hot sauce,” says Springer. His mom’s family is from Barbados, where hot sauces are built on green scotch bonnets, lots of onions, seasonings (e.g. cumin, ginger, mustard, turmeric) and white vinegar. “Vinegars for us are not the primary acid, we use citrus,” but growing up in New York City, Springer saw his grandmother take a slug of apple cider vinegar every morning, make salad dressings and pickle with it.

Shaquanda’s original blend is filled with fresh hot chili peppers, onions, ginger, lemon juice, horseradish, turmeric, mustard, and apple cider vinegar. Whereas spicy condiments from Barbados are chunky and thick Springer didn’t want to use guar gum or a starch to thicken his sauce; instead, he uses vinegar as a stabilizer. For Barbadian dishes, pepper sauces are really considered the seasoning, as they complete the dish. “Hot sauce goes with everything, from macaroni pie, any kind of baked chicken, and fried fish sandwiches called Cutters,” recalls Springer. Springer’s go-to for fish fare is Mx. Green Sass, inspired by boiled green bananas, cassava/yucca, sweet potatoes and yams, which are staples in Barbados called ground provisions. White vinegar is used to contrast the starches. Springer also wanted to represent a gender neutral product, “Mx. is pronoun instead of Mr. or Mrs. — I identify as all,” but not all Springer’s hot sauces are sentimental, some are experimental. “I use balsamic in my Oomani [hot sauce] — it has all ingredients with the letter B: black garlic, blackberries, blueberries, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar”. Black garlic is sweet, tangy and mild, but can be overpowered easily, so Springer calls on balsamic’s gentle touch. Springer adds white white vinegar and red wine vinegar for a multifaceted acid approach, because hot sauces shouldn’t be limited in scope — they should be for all [types of vinegars].