Most popular hot sauce

Cholula is now the most popular hot sauce in America

#2 is the century old favorite


#3, Sriracho, has only been sold here for about 40 years from a Vietnam immigrant of Chinese ethnicity


#4 Tabasco is a long time favorite from the 19th century


#5 Tapatio is another Mexican brand


What is your favorite? It doesn't have to be one of these five sauces.

There is a sugar free version of Sriracho. Does anyone know what it is called?

Frank's Red Hot is the number two best-selling,
though they claim to be number one. I order it
by the gallon transfer it to a 16 oz bottle. The
number one seller is way too salty for me.
It has literally twice as much salt as the other
leading brands. I eat a lot of hot sauce, and
cayenne, and paprika, because they contain
capsaicin which is a superfood.

We use a lot of Frank's but my wife also likes the #1, too. Tabasco works better with certain things.

my comments in italics

Quote: Pacomartin

Cholula is now the most popular hot sauce in America haven't tried it in eons, but when I did it wasn't even what I would call hot.




#2 is the century old favorite [frank's red hot] I only use it if restaurant has nothing else, it's flavor is lacking, but it is moderately hot and better than nothing




#3, Sriracho,  has only been sold here for about 40 years from a Vietnam immigrant of Chinese ethnicity
it is pretty hot, but I seldom use it




#4 Tabasco is a long time favorite from the 19th century
qualified favorite: I like it best on tomatoey things, and egg yolks. It does briefly have an off-putting smell to me, which goes away quick enough




#5 Tapatio is another Mexican brand
I am snakebit about mexican hot sauces, see next

I had a bad reaction to this one, I felt it caused extreme purging. It is made from the Guajillo pepper, and I now avoid any hot sauce made from it, or any mention of Guajillo in any restaurant menu item. However, I admit I could be wrong about what caused my problem, these things are hard to pin down as to cause. 

Quote:

What is your favorite? It doesn't have to be one of these five sauces.

this one is my general favorite, medium hot, enough to be too hot for some, and has good flavor. 

1)

Quote: odiousgambit

I haven't tried Cholula in eons, but when I did it wasn't even what I would call hot

Quote: website

HOW SPICY IS CHOLULA HOT SAUCE?
In 1912, Wilbur Scoville developed a scale to measure peppery punch. Cholula delivers an enjoyable 1,000 Scoville units. For comparison, bell peppers range between 0-100 while habaneros fall between 200,000-300,000

2) Franks comes in at around 400 to 500 on the Scoville heat scale. This is often given as 450.

3) Sriracha comes in at 1,000-2,500 Scoville units.

4) The flagship red variety of Tabasco pepper sauce measures 2,500–5,000 Scoville units.

5) Tapatio is around 3,000 Scoville units


Matouk's West Indian Salsa Picante Hot SauceScoville Heat Units (SHU): 50,000 - 250,000
So it really is a different category as the popular five.

The manufacturer (Huy Fong) of popular Sriracha also makes a similar sauce without the sugar. So the big differences between sambal oelek and Sriracha can be boiled down to sugar and garlic, as well as how these ingredients are prepared. Sriracha is puréed into a relative thick, but smooth, hot sauce. Sambal oelek is made into a chunkier paste. Sambal oelek can be hotter. I've seen it listed at 1,865 SHU.



The hottest chile known to man, currently happens to be Smokin’ Ed’s Carolina Reaper, with 2,200,000 Scoville heat units. Personally, I don't want to eat anything that makes me cry, and then burns out my eyeballs if I touch them. I should point out that I bit into a raw habanero pepper with the seeds (when I was younger).

Quote: odiousgambit

this one is my general favorite, medium hot, enough to be too hot for some, and has good flavor. 

O damn. I've only ever seen this once, in Loblolly Bay. Was about the only thing in all of the Caribbean that was properly hot. And I tell you what, for a guy who doesn't care for food, I remembered its name. Das good s#$%.

I think Cholula is the best tasting of the hot sauces but I don't think it has enough spice.

I like Franks because I can use it
as a condiment and it doesn't
overwhelm everything it's used
in like so many hot sauces do.

I've had a big bottle of Tapatio, Frank's, and Sriracha sauce in my fridge. I go through streaks of using one and ignoring the others. Agree with Bob that Frank's tends to not overwhelm the flavor of whatever you are adding it to. Of course Frank's earned its fame by being the sauce used in the original Buffalo Chicken Wings.

Quote: SOOPOO

I've had a big bottle of Tapatio, Frank's, and Sriracha sauce in my fridge. I go through streaks of using one and ignoring the others. Agree with Bob that Frank's tends to not overwhelm the flavor of whatever you are adding it to.

Made chicken and veggies in the
pressure cooker tonight. Chicken
broth and 1/4 cup Franks. It was
perfect, any other hot sauce and
it would have been inedible.