The Heat is On: The Guyana Pepper Sauce

Okay, so you’ve heard it every Summer…someone asking for the hot sauce to spice up their barbeque. Then the deep breaths follow as they begin fanning their lips from the burn, looking for that glass of water, shocked at themselves for tearing up over a small taste of pepper. If you’re the onlooker, you’re probably chuckling on the side. If you’re the brave adventurer, you’re probably only going to laugh later. The best hot sauce makers have experienced this time and again when they’ve served up their concoctions. There are events every year across the country where guys get themselves together, research the hottest peppers, and tempt the courageous to try their brews and live to tell about it. But us mere mortals, who will not hunt the world to find the holy grail of hot peppers, might still want to have some fun in our circles. How do we compete with the masters? Well, the Guyana Pepper Sauce is it.

So, if you don’t know much about Guyana: it is a country on the northeastern tip of South America above Brazil. Many people mistake it for a Caribbean island, but that’s due to its proximity to Trinidad & Tobago, where the Caribbean Islands end. Now being attached to the South American continent brings some advantages. This gives Guyana a beautiful Amazon Rain Forest, and to the credit of the Guyanese, they’ve managed to maintain one of the most pristine jungles in the world. Two-thirds of the country is still untouched and largely unexplored Amazon. With the beautiful Amazon weather, this leaves massive opportunity for solanine nightshades in the genus capsicum to grow with high levels of capsaicin. As it goes: the hotter the weather, the better the pepper.

There are quite a few hot peppers native to the Guyanese lands. Their hotness would vary based on Scoville Heat Units (units used to measure the heat generated by a pepper). One of the best (and most popular in Guyana) to make a traditional pepper sauce is the Wiri Wiri. It’s a species of the Capsicum Frutescens like the chili pepper; comparable to the Scotch Bonnet. So how hot is hot exactly when talking about the Wiri Wiri Pepper? Surely you’ve tasted a jalapeño, which measures approximately 2,500 – 10,000 SHUs depending on its maturity or ripeness. Based on Scoville Heat Unit measurement the Wiri Wiri is a scorching 150,000 SHUs when mature – a whopping 15 times hotter than the ripest jalapeño. Now is it the hottest pepper in the world – no. We leave that to peppers like the Bhut Jolokia from India, measuring in levels of 1,000,000+ SHUs. Why? Because we aim to make a flavorful ‘pepper sauce’ and not ‘pepper spray’. With the Wiri Wiri you will feel the heat, taste the flavor, and still live to tell the tale. So if you’re looking to climb to the top of the backyard barbeque throne with a home-made pepper sauce to rival the pit masters, the Wiri Wiri Pepper in a good Guyana pepper sauce may be just what you’re looking for.

Well, you’ll need the ingredients to prepare the hot sauce concoction.

The list is as follows:

· Wiri Wiri Pepper

· Onions

· Garlic

· Ginger

· Honey Mustard

· Vinegar (preservative)

To produce the pepper sauce you should wash the pepper and remove the stem. Peel and wash the onions, garlic cloves, and ginger as well. Place all the ingredients in a food chopper and then add the honey mustard with approximately two tablespoons of white distilled vinegar. Cover and blend. To make 16 ounces (2 cups) of pepper sauce use 1 cup of pepper, 1 large onion, 1 clove of garlic, 1 ginger, and 1 tablespoon of white distilled vinegar. Use between ¼ to ½ cups of honey mustard to flavor to your taste. The vinegar acts as a preservative. A glass jar is most likely the best storage for this pepper sauce and for lasting freshness keep in the refrigerator when complete.

Of course it does. The secret to any pepper’s heat is truly hidden in the seed (or rather the pith surrounding it). To make a milder version of this pepper sauce, simply remove seeds before grinding with the rest of the ingredients. But beware… Since the Wiri Wiri is 15 times hotter than a jalapeño, removing the seeds will not tame the pepper. Removing the seeds only makes it slightly milder than its full 150,000 SHUs. So choosing to inflict this little pepper on your dinner guests might just be a case of ‘go hot or go home’.

Now that you’ve got the tools and the recipe, it’s time to heat things up and see where it goes. One last tip: water is not enough to cool the tongue after eating this pepper. Milk (100% whole milk, not skim or light) will become the nectar of the gods if you need to ease the burn quickly and effectively. It can be lactose free if necessary. Have fun and good luck.

       Butters & Grant 

   Caribbean Seafood Market

     425 Central Avenue, 

     East Orange, NJ 07018

     Phone: (973)672-6969