August 11, 2016

Move over mayo and ketchup - America is becoming obsessed with hot sauce. 50% of American households now have a bottle of hot sauce in their pantry. Which makes sense really. Hot sauce is so versatile it goes with breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. It has numerous health benefits and there's something strangely alluring about that burning-mouth, almost-crying, sweat-on-the-brow feeling. Well guess what America. There's a new hottie in town. All natural ingredients with none of the crappy additives, and it has just arrived from New Zealand. 

Kaitaia Fire

Kaitaia is our last major town before reaching the very Northern tip of New Zealand. ‘Kai’ is Maori for food – and ‘Kaitaia’ means ample food. Just 15 minutes from Kaitaia, the warm waters of the South Pacific wash into a golden sand bay and there sits New Zealand’s hottest crop: 5 acres of organic chili peppers. Garry and Barb Summerville have been nurturing their chili plants and turning them into Kaitaia Fire since 1989. Their sauces and hot chili products are now household staples in New Zealand and are being exported all around the world.

Waha Wera Kiwifruit & Habanero Sauce

Waha Wera means ‘burning mouth’ in Maori and this hot sauce lives up to its name! A gold medallist at the Fiery Foods Challenge in Albuquerque, this sauce is to be taken seriously.

The world’s hottest pepper, the habanero, is organically grown in the Far North of New Zealand and milled with New Zealand kiwifruit and manuka honey. Unsurpassed for marinades or simply used as a table sauce. It’s hot, yet full of flavor. We do not accept responsibility for any damage inflicted to over-inflated egos! Use with caution.

Available online here: Waha Wera Kiwifruit & Habanero Sauce

Kaitaia Fire Chili Pepper Sauce

A traditional hot sauce, made with capsicum frutescens which have been raised from Fijian seed and lovingly tended using organic principles to produce fiery red fruit.  

The chilies used in Kaitaia Fire are sunripened in New Zealand’s far north, finely milled with sea salt and barrel aged to create a superior piquant flavor. The process removes virtually all the sugars in the fruit, and releases the pepper’s volatile oils. This is pure Kaitaia Fire.

Free of preservatives, coloring and sugar this chili sauce packs a punch! Lift any culinary experience out of the mundane and into the realms of the unforgettable.

Available online here: Kaitaia Fire Chili Pepper Sauce

More good reasons to live a little

Studies focused on capsaicinoids - the bit that makes chili peppers, habaneros, jalapenos and cayennes hot, have been finding that the natural chemical can be beneficial in improving a range of factors related to heart and blood vessel health, including lowering of cholesterol in the body (1) and possibly reducing blood pressure (2). Capsaicin can help reduce pain and inflammation (3), is known to clear sinuses and stuffy noses (4), burn calories and may even help curb your appetite (5). Hot sauce is also lower in calories than most other condiments. Whack another dollop on my burger please!

And if you over do it? Milk works best to take the bite off. It has a protein in it that replaces the capsaicin receptors in the tongue (6).

Get cooking with hot sauce

• Perk up scrambled or fried eggs (and it does wonders for a bland potato hash)
• Pour a good slosh inside your burger
• Add to mayo for a great dipping sauce for fries or wings
• Stir into Mexican and Asian soups
• Spice up chocolate cupcakes or hot chocolate or melt into a chocolate fondue
• Marinade chicken wings and ribs
• Melt with butter and drizzle over popcorn
• Flavor raw oysters and cooked scallops
• Add a few drops to syrup and toss with fruit or cucumber
• Top crusty bread with a good dollop of hot sauce and grilled cheese
• Make an elixir of honey, lemon, warm water and a couple of drops of hot sauce