00:00 (breathing heavily)
00:03 I'm having a hard time breathing.
00:07 Excuse me.
00:08 I'm Smokin' Ed Curry.
00:17 I'm a professional hot sauce maker and pepper breeder.
00:20 And today we're gonna make the world's hottest hot sauce.
00:23 So the pepper I'm using in this sauce today is Pepperex.
00:27 And for those of you who don't know,
00:29 it's one of the line of peppers I bred
00:31 after we announced the Carolina Reaper.
00:33 Pepperex is approximately two times hotter
00:36 than the low average on the Carolina Reaper.
00:39 It's not for the faint of heart.
00:41 Eating straight Pepperex will make you vomit.
00:43 This is gonna be naturally
00:46 one of the world's hottest hot sauces.
00:48 The pepper in here is approximately
00:50 3.5 million Scoville heat units.
00:53 The pepper in here,
00:54 somewhere between 2.5 and 2.8 million Scoville units.
00:58 Once we add vinegar,
00:59 there's a dilution factor that comes in.
01:01 We're gonna use pepper powder and pepper oil
01:04 to kick it way back up again.
01:05 So the first one we're gonna use is the pureed Pepperex.
01:09 I put this through the purer back in our other kitchen
01:12 because I didn't wanna kill everybody here on the set.
01:14 This puree is very thick.
01:16 This is nothing but pureed peppers.
01:18 It is beautiful.
01:19 It's got,
01:20 oh, just that aroma.
01:23 That aroma from the peppers is unbelievable.
01:26 This is somewhere between 750 and 800 peppers
01:29 ground down into this.
01:31 This one is our Mean Green Mash.
01:33 It is 80% Pepperex, 20% vinegar.
01:37 The floral tones from the Pepperex in the puree
01:42 are overpowering.
01:44 The green has more of a earthy tone to it.
01:47 It tastes more like home cooking flavor.
01:50 It gives you much more versatility.
01:52 The next thing we're gonna do
01:53 is add some vinegar for acidity.
01:55 We're using 80% pepper and 20% vinegar.
01:59 This vinegar will bring the pH of the hot sauce down.
02:03 And once you get it below 4.2,
02:06 it'll inhibit the growth of bacteria and mold
02:08 that could really hurt you and damage your hot sauce.
02:11 I like to use an immersion blender.
02:13 You just give everything a stir.
02:18 The two have blended,
02:21 and that deep, dark, almost mustard color
02:24 that comes from the Pepperex
02:25 and the green from this
02:26 have given it kind of a lighter tone.
02:28 It looks more like a tan mud now.
02:31 I'm really scared, but I gotta give it a taste,
02:34 see how it goes.
02:36 When you're tasting superhots,
02:37 don't put the spoon in like a normal spoon
02:39 and pull it out of your mouth.
02:41 What that's gonna do is pull that capsaicin
02:43 back on your lips.
02:44 You don't want those lips going all poof.
02:47 So what you do, put the spoon in your mouth,
02:49 flip it upside down, then pull it out,
02:52 and the tongue and the roof of your mouth
02:53 take care of all the rest.
02:55 Whew.
02:59 That is, that's brutal.
03:02 I think for what we're gonna be doing,
03:04 we're gonna need to add a little more vinegar to it.
03:08 I think we are done with the pepper, though.
03:12 Yeah, give me a sec.
03:14 That's (beep) brutal, excuse me.
03:18 We talked about acidifying the product.
03:20 You can also acidify using citrus.
03:22 You just have to use a whole lot more of it
03:24 than you do vinegar.
03:25 But the lime enhances the flavor of the hot sauce,
03:28 and it plays a little trick on the body.
03:30 It also accelerates the reaction we perceive as heat.
03:33 (beep)
03:34 - How you doing?
03:35 (beep)
03:36 - Burning up, man.
03:37 That (beep) was hot.
03:37 (beep)
03:38 So we've added a little citric acid into there.
03:40 Before we stir it up, I'm also gonna talk about salt.
03:43 This is kosher salt.
03:44 Depending on what I want my flavor to taste like,
03:47 I either use black salt or some pink Himalayan.
03:50 I'm looking for a more earthy tone, a more green tone.
03:53 I'll use pink Himalayan salt.
03:54 If I wanna do something with fruit,
03:56 the charcoal helps bring down the sweetness in the fruit
03:59 so it's not overbearing.
04:01 But for all around and doing stuff at home,
04:03 this is the one you wanna work with.
04:05 Boom, just a little bit of salt
04:07 brings out all the flavor of the pepper
04:09 and brings up the heat.
04:11 The next thing we're gonna do is add some pepper powder.
04:14 Don't sniff too close because now my nostrils are on fire.
04:18 Okay.
04:19 My wife's right, I am an idiot.
04:20 It's gonna give the sauce thickness.
04:22 It's also gonna give it a lot more heat.
04:24 That's a little bit of Reaper, a little bit of Pepper X,
04:27 a little bit of Pepper Wine, some Chocolate Bootle.
04:30 A mix of the four hottest peppers we grow.
04:33 I like having all those peppers in there
04:35 because it gives it a well-rounded flavor.
04:37 As this reconstitutes, it thickens up really well.
04:42 So now we have to test it.
04:44 Do we need to add more vinegar?
04:45 If you're bottling hot sauce that you're making
04:47 or even putting it in a jar, once it sets up,
04:51 you don't want it to be so thick
04:53 that it's not gonna come out.
04:54 This is gonna need a little more vinegar.
04:56 So now that we've added just four ounces of vinegar,
05:00 the consistency is more of a sauce now.
05:03 Our final pepper ingredient that we're putting into this
05:06 is a secret ingredient from Puckerbott Pepper Company,
05:09 and this is a pepper oil.
05:11 What that pepper oil is is a concentration of peppers.
05:14 We've measured different ones,
05:16 anywhere between 1.6 million
05:18 all the way up to 5.2 million Scoville heat units,
05:22 depending on the concentration of pepper
05:24 and how many times we boil it down.
05:26 The one that we're using right here is in the high threes.
05:29 It's probably 3.8, 3.9.
05:32 [blender whirring]
05:35 Holy smokes.
05:39 Again, I'm not looking forward to this.
05:45 [sighs]
05:47 The oil gives it a smokiness.
05:49 It gives it a really good flavor.
05:52 It gets into your bloodstream so fast
05:54 that you just get an endorphin rush immediately.
05:58 But I'm not satisfied that this is gonna be
06:00 the hottest sauce in the world.
06:02 Just not.
06:03 Even though I'm having a hard time breathing.
06:05 Oops.
06:08 Oh, I want more of an earthy tone.
06:11 [blender whirring]
06:15 What is coming off this pot is essentially pepper spread.
06:18 Okay, my eyes are watering, my nose is running,
06:21 my skin is burning.
06:22 [sighs]
06:29 I'm having a hard time breathing.
06:34 This is a really good hot sauce.
06:36 It by far makes the grade.
06:37 But I'm gonna kick it up a little bit
06:39 by adding a few aromatics.
06:40 Fresh ginger is amazing.
06:42 Ginger enhances the heat of the pepper.
06:45 All you gotta do is take the skin off,
06:48 give it a few chunks.
06:49 Same thing with turmeric.
06:50 Just take the skin off and put a few chunks in there.
06:55 There's nothing like a few fresh herbs
06:57 to go into your hot sauce.
06:59 Just cut off a few chunks.
07:01 A little bit of basil always gives an earthy tone
07:04 some brightness.
07:06 We gotta get it up to a minimum of 185 degrees.
07:11 What that does is kills the molds
07:13 that can still grow at room temperature.
07:17 And by pH-ing it, you're making sure it stays that way.
07:21 My skin is on fire.
07:23 I can still see there are tears in my eyes,
07:26 but that's just from the aroma.
07:28 Once this really starts boiling,
07:31 that's gonna get everywhere in the room.
07:33 I don't have a mask on, but you should have a mask on.
07:36 I just happen to like the breathing
07:37 that goes along with this.
07:38 So if you don't wanna use a pH meter,
07:41 you can always use a pH test strip,
07:43 which you can find online.
07:45 And then we see what color it turns,
07:47 and we match it to the back of the meter.
07:49 And it looks like the pH is gonna be
07:51 somewhere between 3.5 and 4.0.
07:55 Perfect.
07:55 When you're bottling hot sauce,
07:58 you can buy what's called a five ounce woozy and a funnel.
08:01 You can bottle your own hot sauce.
08:03 When you get the bottle, you gotta put the cap on,
08:06 and then you need to turn it over.
08:09 Depending on the pH of the sauce
08:11 will give you the time it needs to be turned over.
08:13 But in general, you can say for about six seconds.
08:15 What that does is kill anything
08:18 that might've been on the lid,
08:19 and it also super heats the air
08:22 that's still left inside that bottle.
08:24 We highly recommend that you follow
08:26 the food safety guidelines of your state and the FDA.
08:30 The instructions are online.
08:32 They're for your safety.
08:33 And if you follow them,
08:34 you're not gonna injure yourself or others
08:36 making homemade hot sauce.
08:38 So now that we've completed the hot sauce,
08:41 and it's cooled down a little to let those flavors melt,
08:44 the real way to try it,
08:45 to see if you're really gonna like it,
08:47 is to try it on food.
08:48 So I'm gonna try this hot sauce on some of this pizza.
08:52 Remember, I am a professional.
08:54 Don't do this at home.
08:55 Mm.
09:00 When I put it on food,
09:02 that initial blast of heat that I got
09:03 when I put it on a spoon wasn't there.
09:06 I got to taste the tomato sauce
09:11 that was on the pizza.
09:16 Now that I've swallowed,
09:18 there's a whole new dance going on in my mouth.
09:20 I am on fire.
09:21 And my lips hurt.
09:22 The side of my mouth,
09:24 the other side of my mouth,
09:25 the saliva glands on this side of my mouth
09:27 are just pumping out saliva.
09:29 And my whole body is telling me
09:31 that was just a big mistake.
09:33 Though it tasted really good.
09:34 You had more of the ginger tone came out
09:37 now that it's cooled down a little,
09:38 and you can finally taste the turmeric.
09:40 We went straight for the bullseye.
09:42 And this is by far one of the hottest sauces
09:45 I've ever made in my life.
09:47 So there it is.
09:48 We've made the world's hottest hot sauce.
09:50 This is a brutally hot, hot sauce.
09:52 The burn, when you take a full spoonful,
09:55 for me, is lasting over 10 minutes.
09:57 Please remember, if you're gonna do this at home,
10:00 start with something mild like a jalapeno.
10:03 You always need to go mild before you go wild.
10:07 This is for professionals only.
10:09 (upbeat music)
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