Chile peppers developed capsaicin to discourage predators from eating them. The irony is that the most fearsome predator on the planet, humans, eat them, not only despite their capsaicin, but because of it. Yet, ironically, it worked to enhance the survival of chile peppers – humans cultivate them. So a double irony.

I’m not a fan of super hot chiles. But no matter – I think moderately hot Jalapeños and Poblanos are the tastiest chiles. My favorite hot sauce is Cholula Green Pepper, which has both chiles. I buy it in half gallon bottles:

Cholula Green Pepper Hot Sauce
www.amazon.com/dp/B00CBIKWAW/r..._encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I put some into an old 14 oz French’s Mustard bottle for convenient dispensing.

BTW – Decades ago “The Economist” was an excellent monthly news magazine. Every issue had a feature general interest article. One such article was about chile peppers. It noted that chiles were so integral to East Indian cuisine that most Indians refused to believe that they weren’t native to India. But DNA analysis proves that Indian chiles are descended from New World chiles.

Plus one on the Cholula green. But I don't consume the quantity that you do. It's got a nice amount of heat and a great pepper flavor.

I continue searching for a really good, hot, green chili sauce. Cholula is much too mild for me. Right now I have a bottle of Burns and McCoy Verde Hot; it’s only hotter than Cholula. The search continues

I love the flavor of peppers, not just the heat.
I never tried that sauce you mentioned as I like the taste of Habanero better than Jalapeños.

Almost every year I'm at the Bowers Chili Festival in September.

I've built a tolerance. Had to upgrade to the Tabasco Scorpion sauce from their Habanero variety. Both good, but the heat from the Scorpion sauce is just right.

I come originally from North-Eastern India, from the State of Assam. People there eat really hot food, flavored with the many varieties of chilis that grow there. Ghost Peppers grow wild there, and is considered a delicacy. The Ghost Peppers, though being very, very hot, also have a nice citrusy flavor, which I like. So, hot sauces like Franks, or Cholula, or Tabasco are nice, but, they do nothing for me.

And, I dont know if it is some kind of a folk myth, but, supposedly, the incidence of diabetes, and arthritis is very low among the Assamese people, and it is ascribed to a diet which used a whole lot of vegetables and plenty of hot chilis !!!
-Sid

I like it medium, for me the hotter does not enhance the taste of the food.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I continue searching for a really good, hot, green chili sauce. Cholula is much too mild for me. Right now I have a bottle of Burns and McCoy Verde Hot; it’s only hotter than Cholula. The search continues

We’re lucky enough to get a big shipment of New Mexico hatch green Chilies every year. You can order them in mild, hot, or extra hot. We go for the extra hot and are able to make our own sauce with fresh ones. It’s a blessing for sure as I love it!

Interesting about *why* chiles developed capsaicin, I didn't know that. I enjoy using various hot sauces, haven't tried Cholula Green though. Just reading the label though sugar is the third (of 11 ingredients) why do they have to add sugar? One ingredient is Poblano but another one is "Poblano Pepper Flavor", wonder what exactly that is? Also (maybe because of the sugar and no vinegar?) they must add Sodium Benzoate and Sodium Metabisulfite as preservative.

Two hot sauces I always have on hand are Tabasco and Crystal which is a bit less hot than Tabasco. They both are made from the simple 3 ingredients of distilled vinegar, red pepper, and salt.

Pipe Smoker have you ever made your own hot sauces? I have not, at least yet.

I have made a few different salsa from scratch my favorite recipe is this one from "The Bald Chef". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpgK7Kr3T3I
He also has this easy salsa verde recipe that I want to try. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U29SJzVoKuM

Cholula is a delicious mild flavor.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
<snip>
Pipe Smoker have you ever made your own hot sauces? I have not, at least yet.
<snip>

No, I haven’t – and probably won’t, ‘cuz I’m happy with Cholula.

One reason that I prefer it over Tabasco is that it has much less vinegar. You mentioned sugar, but there’s not much. I don’t taste it.

I can see not liking Tabasco if you don't like vinegar.

Some birds eat chiles and cannot taste the capsaicin. Doesn't bother them in the slightest.

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
Cholula is a delicious mild flavor.

My preferred hot sauce. I take it everywhere.

quote:

One reason that I prefer it over Tabasco is that it has much less vinegar. You mentioned sugar, but there’s not much. I don’t taste it.

I've always liked Tobasco and Cholula. Especially the Cholula chipotle. If you haven't watched the How It's made on Tobasco, I highly recommend it. They actually still age the Tobasco in oak barrels covered with salt.

Lately I've been making my own chili powder. A main ingredient is whole Ancho chilis which I roast and then grind with a dozen or so other spices. Delicious!

quote:

Originally posted by Rev. A. J. Forsyth:

....Lately I've been making my own chili powder. A main ingredient is whole Ancho chilis which I roast and then grind with a dozen or so other spices. Delicious!

Yum

Some people must like being roasted alive, inside out.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I continue searching for a really good, hot, green chili sauce. Cholula is much too mild for me. Right now I have a bottle of Burns and McCoy Verde Hot; it’s only hotter than Cholula. The search continues

I recommend El Yucateco Chile Habanero hot sauce. They make a red and a green. The green is one of my go to sauces. Much hotter than Cholula.

I like Sichuan peppers and the little red ones from Thailand. Real Sichuan food is filled with sliced peppers to infuse the flavor and heat into the food. But don't eat the peppers...

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
Chile peppers developed capsaicin to discourage predators from eating them.

No, you have that wrong. I came across the way plants propagate from a long time ago that I've been searching for ever since. It was a fascinating program about how plants developed methods to propagate themselves.

Just as an aside, it talked about trees on an island who require a bird to propagate the seeds except the bird is instinct. The last scene talks about the plants being on the lower scale compared to man but it zooms out to show a field being serviced by people exactly to continue propagation of the plant.

To get back to capsaicin, it's not to discourage predators from eating them but to encourage predators to deposit the seeds in fertile ground before the seeds are completely digested in the predator's stomach. It puts a different understanding now, doesn't it?