Since launching the Raising the HEAT for Autism Project, we’ve received a number of questions about the sauce itself. We conceived the idea for some kind of hot sauce, but it was John Hard of CaJohns Fiery Foods that really put some specific ideas in play to make this sauce a reality. In a world of hot sauces that can be all-too-similar, we wanted to try to do something a little different.

(The bottle you see here is not the collectible bottle, but rather what the sauce looks like in a regular five-ounce woosy.) First thought…the peppers. John’s idea was to make a green sauce. Having recently been to the Open Fields event and seen a ton of not-quite-ripe peppers, the thought was to use some peppers that were fully grown but not quite fully ripe…hence the greenness of the peppers. We elected to use the green versions of both red savina habaneros and fataliis.

Given the peppers that were chosen, we knew the sauce was going to be pretty darn hot. However, we wanted to ramp it up yet another level. So, we opted to include some Naga Jolokia to give it that extra capsaicin oomph. So, with Jolokia, red savina habs, and fataliis, we had the makings of the truly hot sauce we wanted.

Next task was to add those all-important seasoning elements. Garlic and onion were a given to us, since those tastes go so well in hot sauce. Lime juice was another excellent taste idea, and would add a little more tartness to the sauce. And what goes best with lime juice? Well, tequila of course! John added a little bit of Sauza tequila as well. Add a little crushed red pepper for color and some Mexican oregano for taste with some miscellaneous other spices as well. Finish off the brew with some vinegar for liquidity and voilà…a hot sauce masterpiece. What follows are some pictures of the sauce as well as some tasting notes.

A close look at the sauce in the bottle

A dab of hot sauce for tasting

Even Ari wants to take a picture of the sauce he inspired

Taste: How could we not taste this sauce? While designed to be a collectible, we’re well aware of the fact that there are those who will open and use the sauce anyway. These tasting notes are dedicated to you, hot sauce aficionados. We both took a dab on our fingers and simultaneous jabbed our fingers into our mouths to coat our tongues with this sauce. The results? Surprisingly tasty, we must say. Most hot sauces that are made with these caliber of peppers are nearly impossible to taste for more than a second before the heat overwhelms, but not so with this sauce. There is a dry tartness to this sauce, possibly due to the mixture of lime, tequila, and vinegar. The sauce lacks the innate sweetness that comes from ripened peppers, so it has a true pepper-laden mouth feel. You can taste the red pepper, but it doesn’t taste like pure red pepper like you’d buy at the grocery store. CaJohn believes it to be more of a black peppery taste, and I would tend to agree with that. The fact that it has good flavor is quite the feather in John’s cap for his sauce-making abilities.

Oh yeah, about the heat…it’s pretty intense when it comes. The more you eat, the more you sweat. It’s got more of a delayed effect than some sauces, but no less in potency. The first taste is fatalii, which was the most distinct, pungent, full-on heat which is followed by that overall mouth feel of the red savinas. The Naga is something you can’t really taste, but you just feel the afterburners with it. On a scale of 1 to 10 for heat, I’ll give it an 11. A natural 11, though. No oleoresin of capsaicin to give it artificially pumped-up heat. A good sweat, to be sure.

By the way…buy a bottle and taste it for yourself. 100% of the proceeds go to support Autism Speaks.

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