Scotty B’s Hot Sauces

Fiery, scorching and burning were used to describe not the weather last Sunday, but Scotty B's Hot Sauces. The Capistrano Beach-based company is one of several vendors at the year-round Agoura Hills Farmers Market.

Marinade, hot sauce, dip and salad dressing in one, the gourmet hot sauces come in 12.75 oz. bottles, larger than your usual table hot sauce, and six variants, ranging from mildly hot to the over-the-top, triple X hot. They sell for $8 a bottle, except for the Nemesis triple X type, which sells for $9. Volume discounts are also available.

"Most hot sauces are vinegar-based, but ours are tomato-based and natural," said Brotha Zeigler, a sales representative for Scotty B's. Additionally, Scotty B's hot sauces have no corn syrup, no preservatives and no artificial flavors. The sweet versions have only one gram of sugar in each bottle.

Many levels of hotness

Among the six types, Zeigler said the Sweet Jalapeno Heat is the most popular and sells out every Sunday. California-grown red jalapenos, which Zeigler said are sweeter than their green counterparts, are the main ingredient. This variety is good as a glaze or dipping sauce for pork, chicken, lamb and turkey, Zeigler said.

Chipotle Fever is considered the mildest among the hot sauces. It goes well with most Mexican dishes, as well as pizza and pasta dishes. The use of chipotle peppers gives this hot sauce a unique flavor.

Berries in Heat is good with salmon, beef and chicken, and as a dip for egg rolls and other Chinese dishes. "Most people cannot imagine how we were able to combine strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries with a hot sauce, because the combination is just astounding," said Zeigler. This hot sauce uses serrano peppers, noted for their crisp and biting flavor.

Jalapeno Scream, a green hot sauce, is good with eggs, breakfast burritos, nachos and tortilla chips, Zeigler said. It is also good as a marinade or basting sauce for barbecue chicken or pork. The main ingredients are green serranos and green jalapenos.

Sweet Habanero uses the same recipe as the Sweet Jalapeno Heat but with more heat thanks to the habanero peppers, which are at least 10 times hotter than jalapenos. Sweet Habanero is recommended for use with pork, lamb, chicken and turkey. It also goes well with many Thai and Chinese dishes, according to Zeigler.

"There is nothing hotter and more wicked than the Nemesis Hot Sauce, said Zeigler. The "hottest of the hot" has red habanero peppers as its main ingredient. It is considered a triple X hot sauce because of the habanero peppers' elevated heat level of 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville units.

Let's talk pepper

Named after Wilbur Scoville, a pharmacist who devised a system for measuring a pepper's bite, the Scoville scale or heat unit system has been in use since 1912. Hot sauce connoisseurs use it as a reference for contests and to rank peppers. On the Scoville scale, bell peppers are zero while the average jalapeno pepper is between 2,500 and 8,000 units.

New peppers are still emerging and topping the 8,000 mark. "In the coming months, we might have a new hot sauce flavor using the ghost chili pepper (scientific name: naga jolokia), considered the hottest in the world," Zeigler said. There are unconfirmed reports that the ghost chili pepper boasts 1 million Scoville units.

Meantime, revenue has been more than satisfactory for Scotty B's hot sauces all throughout the summer barbecue months. Zeigler is also optimistic about the fall season. "I think we will continue to do well," he said. "There are indoor grills and ovens for baking and broiling. People will find a way to use our hot sauce."

Aside from the various farmers markets around L.A. County, the award winning, gourmet hot sauces are also available online and in mom and pop stores.