Angela Garbes - The Everything Hot Sauce Book: From growing to picking and preparing—all you need to add some spice to your life!

THE

HOT SAUCE
BOOK

Dear Reader,

If youre reading this, you probably already have a favorite hot sauce. Its the one you reach for when you have eggs in the morning or when youre fixing yourself a late-night sandwich. It might be a well-known brand like Sriracha, or a lesser-known one like Secret Aardvark, or maybe its a special concoction made from fresh chili peppers in your own kitchen.

If there is one thing I learned while writing this book, its that people everywhere love their hot sauce. When I told folksfamily, friends, random acquaintancesthat I was writing a book about hot sauce, nearly everyone had the same reaction. Their eyes would light up immediately and theyd lean in, as if they were sharing a secret with me and say, I have a great hot sauce that you should write about. Its my favorite. Its called .

Whether its in Chicago, Accra, or Manila, hot sauce gets peoples blood flowing and their mouths watering. While developing recipes for this book, my kitchen became home to dishes I never dreamed of making, from places like Ethiopia and Jamaica. Once I started exploring hot sauce, it both changed the way I cook and opened up a new world. I hope this book does the same for you.

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THE

HOT SAUCE
BOOK

From growing to picking and preparing
all you need to add some spice to your life!

Angela Garbes

To my family, old and new.

Photo credits:

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ITS HARD TO GET an exact number, but its estimated that in the United States alone, bottled hot sauce sales exceed $200 million annually. Talk about something being on fireand thats just in the United States. Americans are certainly not the only ones crazy about hot sauce. In fact, theres a worldwide love affair going on with the stuff. While no one actually knows the number of bottles of hot sauce sold around the world each year, we do know that nearly every country is home to multiple brands of sauce, not to mention markets and stores filled with fresh and dried chilies, chili powders, and spicy seasoning blends.

So, where does all this hot sauce come from?

The history of hot sauce begins with chili peppers. And, as youll find out in this book, the history of chili peppers is a surprising and fascinating story that takes you all around the world. Chili peppers, also known as capsicums, originated in the Amazon jungles of South America, where they were grown and cultivated by native people for thousands of years before being discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492.

Its crazy to think that just 500 years ago, no one outside of Central and South America had even seen or heard of a chili pepper. Its almost impossible to imagine what Indian curries and Szechuan stir fries tasted like before chilies found their way to Asia. But it didnt take long for chilies to unleash their addictive power around the world. They worked their way into the cuisine of nearly every country, then gave way to the birth of hot sauces, and, in the end, a booming multi-million dollar international industry.

Chili peppers and hot sauce are so popular because, simply put, they make everything taste better. Whether they are scorchingly hot or pleasantly mild, chilies and hot sauce add flavor and excitement to food. Even people who shy away from very spicy foods know that there is a distinct sensation that takes hold of your body when you eat chilies: They get your blood flowing, send your heart racing, and make your tongue wag. Sometimes it can be painful, but more often than not, chili peppers and hot sauce bring pleasure.

Gathering together with friends and family for a meal is already one of the most enjoyable and comforting things you can do. Around the world, every daymultiple times a day, in factpeople come together to break bread, talk, and laugh. And when you add the spice of chilies and hot sauce, things get even more fun. Peoples mouths tingle, they let down their guard, theyre more likely to laughthey feel even more alive.

The recipes in this book are designed to help you experience some of the joy chili peppers bring to people around the world. Because chilies exist in nearly every cuisine, be it Italian, Mexican, or Korean, recipe chapters are divided into different sections of the world to show you the breadth of the chili peppers reach and influence. Use this book as a resource to explore foods that you might be unfamiliar with or curious about. Theres one thing they all have in common: theyre spicy as all get out.

On a practical note, cooking with spices like chili peppers and hot sauce is the easiest ways to add flavor to dishes without expending too much effort and, even better, without spending too much money. There are plenty of recipes in here for homemade hot sauces and spice mixes. Invest just a few dollars in making your own spicy sauces and seasoning blends to have in your refrigerator or pantry, and soon youll be cooking up vibrantly flavored dishes that will impress both yourself and your guests with ease. So get cookingand remember, these recipes are simply guidelines for you to follow. You can make things as spicy as you like, so dont be shy about experimenting and adding more hot sauce. Be bold!