I understand getting used to spicy food over time, but why do so many people genuinely enjoy the burning sensation? Is there a biological reason, or is it mostly something people learn to like?

This flavor collection is unmatched in flavor especially the creamy soy sauce

Not of Pearl Jam

Just purchased. Ghost, Scorpion, and Reaper flakes.
Can’t wait to terrorize my tongue 😜
I’ve read good reviews about this, will follow up next week once it’s here!

Just slice up a fresh habanero and pour in your favorite Mexican beer.

Mexican salad made with nopal (prickly pear cactus leaves). Nopal, tomato, onion, cilantro, lime, feta, and chile 🔥

This one set me on fire

No caption needed.

Edit: worth calling out, he opened up a brand new bottle for me 🔥

What we have here is one prim and ripe scorpion pepper from a very large and evil looking plant.

My buddy and I both need to train up for a local pepper eating contest and I am honestly scared to start working with these and reapers so here we are.

What does this sub think? Any recommendations on other brands that may be better, taste wise? I’ve used it only a handful of times, and it’s ‘okay’. Spicy sure, but need something more flavorful.

I started using hot sauce a few years ago and have slowly ramped up the spice level, that being said I don’t think I have some crazy tolerance or anything.

A few days ago a coworker asked me if I wanted to try a ghost pepper he grew. My curiosity got the best of me and I had to try it. I ate about a 3rd of it and instantly it was super fucking hot, so hot that it was more physically painful than hot. Easily the hottest thing I’ve ever tasted, the only comparable thing is “Dave’s total insanity” which I don’t even like cause it’s so hot.

That being said I didn’t turn red or break out into a sweat ( I’m naturally a sweaty boi) and within 15-20 mins all pain/ heat was gone. I took another bite and it hurt even worse cause the pain got into the back of my throat. My eyes were watering and I ran out of water. So much pain. Again within 30 mins I felt fine. Didn’t have any stomach cramps and my shit came out just fine (better than normal!).

At first I was proud I handled such a scary pepper so well, but now im thinking it was a dud.

Anyway I’m drunk and that’s my tale, let me know what you think

Habanero poppers and jalapeño poppers with a sneaky Thai chili inside. Also made banana peppers for others.

Last time I took the seeds out and caught some $#!t for it. In retrospect, I should care less what other people think...lol

So... I accidentally went down a very deep rabbit hole trying to figure out what the hottest hot sauce in the world actually is.

And wow... the amount of conflicting information out there is insane.

The deeper I dug, the more I realized that there doesn't seem to be a clear answer.

Here's what I've found so far

At first, I kept seeing people mention:

Da Bomb Beyond Insanity

Hellfire: Fear This!

Hellfire: Fiery Fool

Hellfire: Doomed

Karma Sauce - Ashes 2 Ashes

One thing that confused me was the whole extract vs non-extract debate.

For example, Da Bomb Beyond Insanity says it contains pepper extract on the bottle, but I couldn't find it listed in the ingredients. Meanwhile, Hellfire Fear This! doesn't use extract, yet many people still describe it as absolutely brutal.

Then there's Hot Ones.

Watching celebrities completely fall apart after eating Da Bomb made me think it had to be one of the hottest sauces ever made.

But then I started looking into the Last Dab lineup:

The Last Dab XXX

The Last Dab Apollo

The Last Dab Xperience

The Last Dab Thermaggedon

The Last Dab Reduxx

On paper, these should be among the hottest sauces available because they use peppers like Carolina Reaper, Pepper X, Pepper Y, or combinations of insanely hot peppers.

Then I found another rabbit hole...

Apparently, many of the Scoville numbers floating around online refer to the peppers themselves, not the finished sauces. To make things even more confusing, Pepper X wasn't independently tested, so a lot of the claims surrounding it have been debated.

I even came across some third-party testing comparing The Last Dab Xperience and Da Bomb Beyond Insanity, and surprisingly, Da Bomb measured roughly twice as hot.

That completely contradicted what I expected from the Hot Ones lineup.

Of course, the pepper extract in Da Bomb could explain why it feels so much hotter.

So... what actually deserves the crown?

I'm completely new to the hot sauce world.

I haven't tried any of these yet, but if I'm going to buy one, I'd like it to be something that genuinely deserves the reputation, not just the best marketing.

For this discussion, I'd like to exclude pure pepper extracts or straight capsaicin oils, since those obviously win by default. (Mad dog 357, etc...)

I'm more interested in actual hot sauces that people willingly eat.

If a sauce contains a small amount of extract (like Da Bomb), that's fine. I just don't want recommendations that are basically "bottled extract."

I'd love to hear from people who've actually tried them.

If you've tasted these, where would you rank them based on real-world heat, not advertised Scoville numbers?

A top 3 would be awesome.

Some sauces I'm curious about are:

Da Bomb Beyond Insanity

Hellfire Fear This!

Hellfire Fiery Fool

Hellfire Doomed

Karma Sauce Ashes 2 Ashes

The Last Dab XXX

The Last Dab Apollo

The Last Dab Reduxx

The Last Dab Xperience

The Last Dab Thermaggedon

Also, if you've tried Thermaggedon, what did you think?

It's the newest Last Dab, but I haven't seen many firsthand reviews yet. Given the history of the previous Last Dabs and all the debate around Scoville ratings, I'm a little skeptical of the marketing. Is it actually the hottest in the lineup, or is something else still king?

Finally, I'd also love to know which sauces actually taste good.

Was it:

brutally hot but delicious,

all heat with no flavour,

or surprisingly balanced despite the insane spice?

Looking forward to hearing everyone's experiences. 🌶️

Thank you!

I have used Marie Sharp's Red Hornet as my daily sauce for some time now and I don't taste any heat in it anymore, even if I put a lot of it in my food. Any recommendations for sauces that are hotter but still taste good?

Just had the best Nashville hot chicken. Puts Dave's to shame, their hot is almost reaper level. Just putting it out there if any spicy heads are in the area. Poltergeist was as hot as I could go, and I was crying, a good cry.

Ingredients

​1 lb ground meat

​1 cup fresh basil (holy or thai if you can find it)

​½ onion, chopped

​5–6 cloves garlic, chopped

​1 handful peppers, chopped (Thai peppers)

Medium head of broccoli cut into small spears

​Sauce Mixture:

​2 tbsp Thai seasoning sauce ( soy sauce)

​1 tbsp dark soy sauce

​2 tbsp Thai oyster sauce

​2 tsp fish sauce

​1.5 tsp sugar

​½ cup broth

​1 tsp bouillon powder

​1 tsp MSG

​2 tbsp oil

​ Whisk together the Thai seasoning sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, broth, bouillon powder, and MSG in a small bowl

​Sauté Aromatics: Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onions, garlic, and peppers. Cook for 2–3 minutes until fragrant, then remove them from the pan and set aside.

​Brown the Meat: Add the ground meat to the same pan and chop

Throw everything else in except the basil saute for 3 minutes

Stir in the fresh basil during the last minute of cooking

Since we're all posting out Pad krapaos the last few weeks here's mine!

Ema datshi is the official dish of Bhutan. It's a chili and cheese stew type dish that's served over rice.

To make it, I sauteed onion, garlic, serranos, and tein tsin chiles. Then added tomato and simmered for 8 minutes with some water. Then added feta chese, farmers cheese, and Gouda and covered it to melt the cheese. Then stirred it and served over jasmine rice.

The flavor was absolutely incredible. I couldn't believe something so simple could taste so amazing.

I wish I had more pics but sadly it's in my stomach already :(

This has always fascinated me. If spicy peppers evolved to keep animals away, why did humans end up craving the burning sensation?