Hot Sauces vs. Chili Sauces

In short: There isn't one! Hot sauces and chili sauces are the same product - just in different languages. "Hot Sauce" comes from English and literally means "hot sauce," but refers exclusively to spicy sauces made from chili peppers. In German, we speak more precisely of "Chili-Saucen" because our language is known to be very specific and sometimes complicated - our founder Fabian Rueda can confirm this as a Latin American who juggles both languages.

We are true experts for spicy sauces because we don't just sell them, but make them ourselves. In our production facility, we have large mixers and professional equipment with which we cook criminally hot sauces - sometimes even with gas masks, because the fumes from extremely hot chilis like the Pepper X or Carolina Reaper make even experienced spice eaters cry. Fabian Rueda, one of our founders, is Latin American and grew up with extreme heat. This authentic connection to the homeland of chilis makes us true connoisseurs of the subject.

Chilis have been cultivated for 8,000 years - originally in Central America on the Yucatan Peninsula and in the Caribbean. Over 4,000 different varieties are known today, distributed across 33 species. Five main species are grown commercially, including the notorious Capsicum chinense from the Amazon region - the hottest of all chili species.

What many don't know: Chilis are botanically not pods at all, but berries! And the famous "heat" is not a taste, but a pain stimulus. The capsaicin tricks our brain into thinking it's being burned, which triggers the release of happy hormones. Clever evolution: Birds don't feel this heat and spread the seeds over large areas. The Scoville scale has been measuring this heat since 1912. While a jalapeño reaches a maximum of 5,000 SHU, the current record holder Pepper X achieves an incredible 2.69 million SHU.

From mild sriracha sauces from Thailand to smoky chipotle variants to fiery BBQ sauces - the range is huge. Important is the balance between heat and flavor. We are heat tasters, not heat eaters. All our sauces go through the taste test of our team. We deliberately don't carry extracts, as these are only bitter and flavorlessly hot. Conclusion: Whether hot sauce or chili sauce - both describe the same culinary passion for the perfect balance of heat, flavor and happiness.