If you prefer your food to have some heat, National Hot and Spicy Day is your day to celebrate. Stock up on your favorite bottles of hot sauce, replenish the spice cabinet and explore new recipes to set fire to your taste buds this year.
Whether you prefer mild flavors or the intense heat of ghost peppers, enjoy sprinkling spices on a few dishes or believe hot sauce goes on everything, a little spice can elevate almost any dish. National Hot and Spicy Day on Aug. 19 is a chance to celebrate peppers, hot sauces, spices, and the condiments and seasonings that add that extra flavor to meals.
Indulge in extra flavor this Hot and Spicy Day, and use the occasion to add a few new condiments and spices to your list of favorites. These are exciting ways to celebrate the holiday and discover some of the best spicy ingredients and flavorful dishes.
A hot history: How hot and spicy foods became popular
There are a few different spices that cause that spicy sensation. Peppercorns have long provided spiced flavor to dishes. Originating in Asia, traders brought black pepper to Europe as early as the Roman Empire. In Medieval times, people of all classes heavily relied on pepper to flavor their foods.
Chiles are most often associated with fiery flavor. This pungency is a result of the chemical capsaicin in chili peppers. According to Science Meets Food, capsaicin binds to TRVP1 receptors, which then send signals to the brain triggering heat and pain. This is why you experience a burning sensation when eating spicy foods.
Peppers are indigenous to Central and South America. In the worldwide trade established after Christopher Columbus reached the Americas in 1492, explorers brought chili peppers back to Europe, Africa and Asia. Peppers thrived in tropical climates in Asia and Africa and quickly became a staple in cultural dishes.
Today, chili peppers grow almost anywhere and approximately 37 million tons are produced yearly per data collected by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. From the dozens of varieties, peppers can become snacks, ingredients in a dish, chili powder, dried peppers, hot sauce and more.
How hot can you handle?
The Scoville scale measures the pungency of each variety of pepper, ranking them in terms of Scoville Heat Units or SHU. Sweet bell peppers at 0 SHU are the mildest peppers. Jalapeños and serranos are between 2,500 and 5,000 SHU. Habaneros and Scotch bonnets are medium-heat peppers at 100,000 to 350,000 SHU.
At 600,000 to 1 million Scoville units, ghost peppers are in the fiery hot range. Pepper X is the hottest with almost 2.7 million SHU followed by the Carolina Reaper with an average of 1.6 million SHU, both of which were bred by scientist Ed Currie and promise a delightfully painful eating experience
Stocking a spicy pantry
With the variety of peppers and spicy ingredients available, it pays to keep your pantry stocked with a wide range of fiery items. Different hot sauces and spices go beyond providing heat. Many bring a nuanced flavor that can balance a dish — in addition to scorching your taste buds.
Heat-inducing spices
In your spice cabinet, dried peppers concentrate the flavors and powders making it easy to add some heat. Paprika is made from ground red peppers. Spanish and Hungarian paprika each provide subtle flavor differences of sweet, smokey and spicy profiles. Cayenne powder from ground cayenne peppers provides an intense heat. Crushed red pepper flakes are made from a mix of peppers, giving each mixture a different Scoville rating.
Hot sauce and chili paste staples
Beyond these staples, ancho chili, birdseye chili, guajillo chili and others can provide more unique flavors. “Gochujaru,” or Korean red pepper flakes, bring a spicy-sweet taste to Korean BBQ sauce. Urfa biber chili flakes from Turkey, distinct for their dark color, add an earthy and salty spice to Mediterranean dishes.
Hot sauces and condiments in your pantry can also provide a punch of heat. Many cultures have their own contribution to hot sauces. Hot sauces often combine peppers and vinegar, giving a spicy acidity to foods. But it is the chili mixture and additional ingredients that give each sauce its unique flavor.
Louisiana-style hot sauces, like Frank’s Red Hot and Tabasco, and Mexican-style sauces like Cholula, are common options. Sriracha is a more vinegary sauce from Thailand. Each relies mainly on a mix of peppers, vinegar and garlic. Other hot sauces might add carrots for sweetness, chipotles for smokiness and a range of other spices.
Chili pastes, like Indonesian sambal oelek and Korean gochujang have a thicker consistency and showcase the flavor of chiles. They make a great marinade, a flavorful addition to sauces or condiments, and should be a staple in a spice-loving kitchen.
Ways to celebrate National Hot and Spicy Day
While spicy food is good every day of the year, National Hot and Spicy Day is the perfect day to add extra heat. Make your own food or head to a local restaurant. With peppers as the centerpiece in many cuisines, the options are nearly endless.
National Hot and Spicy Day is also a good time to embrace more heat. If you usually stick to mild, try a medium heat this year. You can also splurge on some hot sauce and add a few drops to spice up your typical meals.
For the more daring, join the #ALSHotPepperChallenge. This viral trend challenges you to eat a pepper with a high Scoville rating, like cayenne pepper, habanero or ghost pepper, on camera. Just be sure to have some water or milk nearby.
Dishes worth burning for
Although there is a good argument for putting hot sauce on everything, use this year to try out recipes focusing on spice. Treat yourself to your favorite curry, chili, stuffed bell peppers, Buffalo wings, hot chicken, tacos or whatever dish brings the heat.
You can also get inventive with your spicy foods. For a summery spin, try mango salsa for a fruity twist. Bring spice to dessert with a strawberry jalapeño pie. Sriracha aioli works well as a creamy dressing, dip or spread giving non-spicy dishes a delicious kick. Or if you want a spicy treat without the work, add a few drops of hot sauce to crackers with good cheese.
Fire up your taste buds this National Hot and Spicy Day
From the flavorful to the painfully hot, spicy foods and condiments often make a meal. On Aug. 19, spice things up with a new recipe, a new hot sauce or simply your favorite spicy foods.
Kristen Wood is a photographer, food writer, recipe developer and creator of MOON and spoon and yum. She is also the author of Vegetarian Family Cookbook, Fermented Hot Sauce Cookbook and Hot Sauce Cookbook for Beginners. Her work has been featured in various online and print publications, including NBC, Seattle Times, Elle, Martha Stewart, Forbes, Chicago Sun-Times and more.