Wild Fire Fermented Hot Pepper Sauce (Photo courtesy Wild Earth Fermentation)
1. Wild Fire Fermented Hot Pepper Sauce
$9.95 at Wild Earth Fermentation
Sweet bell, habanero and Scotch bonnet peppers mingle for a fresh, fermented salsa-cum-hot-sauce that should always be stocked in the fridge. Raw fermented rather than cooked, the sauce’s fruity peppers and chiles sing in a choir of subtle, escalating heat. Co-owner and hot sauce maker Grant Collier suggests adding Wild Fire atop pizza.
2. Green Sauce
$4.75/8 ounces, $8/16 ounces at Chicken Fiesta
The charcoal rotisserie chicken at Chicken Fiesta is a gift to the city, but the real prize is its housemade green sauce. Lift the plastic lid to inhale the summery aroma of cilantro, the bright sauce ready for a drag of chicken skin. The acid from lime juice and mild jalapenos lightens rich proteins like dark-meat chicken, steak or grilled lamb.
3. Rana’s Mango-Carrot-Habanero Hot Sauce
at Kuba Kuba
Mexico native and chef Rene Baez was raised with bottles of red or green sauce always occupying his mother’s table. Breaking with tradition, Baez veers thick and piquant, adding carrots to his garlic- and mango-forward sauce. Diners can taste it at both Kuba Kuba and Kuba Kuba Dos, and soon, Galley Kitchen and Market, as plans to bottle and sell this magical potion are in the works.
4. Calabria Hot Sauce
$7.99 to $12.99 online from Clark + Hopkins
This selection from Richmond-based condiment purveyor Clark + Hopkins is one of many hot sauces inspired by flavors from around the world. If you’ve nibbled on a Greek salad, you’ve experienced southern Italian Calabrian chiles in their pickled form. In this hot sauce, fruity, fiery dried chiles tangle with sun-dried tomatoes, olives, garlic, mushrooms, thyme and basil, to become the ultimate takedown sauce for eggplant Parmesan or pasta.
5. Double Comfort Fiery Chipotle Bourbon Sauce
$9.69 at Ellwood Thompson’s
Jim Beam Black Label, chipotles and habaneros are the winning combination that seized the First Place Screaming Mimi at a recent NYC Hot Sauce Show. This small-batch hot sauce is hedonistic, a little chunky and practically built for grilled mushrooms and summer vegetables (it’s also gluten free and vegan), though barbecue lovers may fight me on that. All profit from sales of this bourbon-spiked sauce benefit hunger-fighting charities.
