Our love of all things spicy goes way back, probably to a time when we realized that everything our mothers made for us when we were growing up was just way too bland. Our tastebuds led a bloodless coup and said �Food must be hot and spicy!� Who knew that there was a whole world of peppers out there that would accommodate our masochistic gastronomic desires?

Let’s clear up a common misconception. The spelling is c-h-i-l-e, which is not to be confused with chili, a meaty product lovingly assembled for summer cook-offs. Most chiles come from the genus Capsicum, which has many varieties of shapes, sizes, colors, and of course, heat level. The �heat� from a chile is dependent on a substance called capsaicin. The chemistry of capsaicin and �hotness� is really cool, so click here to see more about it.

Besides enhancing just about any food imaginable, chile peppers are made into wonderful hot sauces. We are avid collectors, having roughly 308 different brands of hot sauce in our collection. It is getting tougher to find sauces that are not just clones of existing sauces, but with a different label pasted onto the bottle. Check out our links for some sites where you can find some hot sauce retailers. Some even have reviews of the sauces so you can read a little about them before you buy.

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