The Health Benefits of Hot Sauce: Is it Good for You?

Hot sauce is known for giving any food a fiery kick. The typical hot sauce contains ingredients like chili peppers, salt, and vinegar. Most are fermented to maximize the shelf life and amplify the delicious flavor of the peppers. Hot sauce is the fastest-growing condiment in the United States, according to the NPD Group, with sales up 150 percent over the last decade. However, what makes hot sauce so popular is not just its unique taste, but also its health qualities.

Is Hot Sauce Good for You?

The health benefits of chili peppers were first discovered as far back as the 1500s. The physician to King Felipe II of Spain revealed that chilies improved digestion and could stimulate appetite. In Brazil, Jesuit priests believed that eating chilies helped ward off dysentery.

Chili peppers are the fruits of Capsicum pepper plants and members of the nightshade family. Many different varieties of chili peppers exist, ranging from sweet bell peppers to super-hot habanero peppers. Capsaicin is the primary bioactive plant compound in chili peppers that creates the pungent taste that we know and love.

Hot sauce can take any meal to the next level, from mac and cheese and stir-fries to scrambled eggs and hamburgers. Now you can feel good knowing that your favorite gourmet hot sauce is also good for you. Here are some of the ways that hot sauce can benefit your health:

1. Weight Loss

While hot sauce is not a healthy diet in and of itself, it can accompany a healthy diet. First, hot sauce is low in calories, making it a great way to spice up your meal while keeping your calorie intake at a healthy level. Next, hot sauce contains capsaicin which increases your metabolic rate, allowing you to burn calories more efficiently. Finally, a spicy meal often results in slower eating. Slowing down during meals has been contributed to weight loss.

2. Nutrition

Hot sauce is filled with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. You’ll find that most hot sauces contain vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium, folate, and potassium. The antioxidants found in hot sauce can help reduce inflammation and lower blood pressure. They also contain anti-aging properties that can help you appear younger. Concentrated doses of vitamin C, commonly found in hot peppers like jalapenos, serranos, and ghosts, can help prevent colds and many other chronic diseases.

3. Diabetes Risk

Enjoying hot sauce with your meals can reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The capsaicin in hot sauce has been found to prevent hyperinsulinemia, a condition in which the body accumulates too much insulin. Excess insulin in your blood can lead to type 2 diabetes. A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that participants who ate a meal containing capsaicin experienced more normalized insulin levels compared to those who ate a meal without it.

4. Pain Relief

Chili peppers have been used in folk remedies for centuries. Today, it’s common to find heat-inducing capsaicin creams designed for aching muscles in most drug stores. Capsaicin contains anti-inflammatory properties that help alleviate muscle strains and sprains, headaches, and certain joint conditions like osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Capsaicin provides pain relief by overwhelming the nerves that are responsible for sending out pain signals to prevent them from transmitting these signals to the brain.

5. Mental Health

Hot sauce not only has physical health benefits, but also mental health advantages. Eating hot sauce with your meals can make you feel good. This is because capsaicin binds to the pain receptors in the nose and mouth, which creates a burning sensation that gets passed to the brain. In response, the brain releases endorphins which act as natural opioids to produce an overall feeling of wellbeing. If you’re in a sour mood, a splash of hot sauce might be just what you need to improve your emotional state.

Rules When Cooking with Ghost Peppers

The ghost pepper is considered one of the spiciest chili peppers in the world. Cultivated in the Northeast Indian states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland, this interspecific hybrid chili pepper is a highly variable plant that can be seen in a range of sizes. The term ‘ghost pepper’ comes from its literal Hindu translation: Bhut Jolokia.

Ghost peppers have a Scoville score of 1,041,427 SHU, making them about 6 times hotter than a habanero pepper, 200 times hotter than a jalapeno pepper, and 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. Due to their extreme spiciness, it’s important to cook ghost peppers properly to reach a safe and edible level of spiciness.

• Wear protective gloves. The oils in ghost peppers are hot enough to cause a burn. When working with fresh ghost peppers, wear protective gloves and ideally, eyewear as the fumes alone can cause eye irritation.
• Start with a small amount. The phrase “a little goes a long way” rings true when it comes to ghost peppers. Just one super-hot pepper is often enough to bring heat to an entire pot of food. Remember, you can always add more.
• Prepare for the future. Homemade hot sauce and salsas containing ghost peppers get hotter over time as the chilies mature. Keep this in mind when measuring the spiciness of your concoction.
• Consider flavor options. Hot sauce is not just limited to one flavor profile. In the Ghost Scream hot sauce store, you’ll find green hot sauce, ghost pepper hot sauce, and the best smoky hot sauce. Whether you want a specialty hot sauce or keto hot sauce to support your modified diet, you’ll find many tasty choices.

Shop Gourmet Hot Sauces at Ghost Scream

Ghost Scream hot sauces are made using only fresh ingredients. Shop our wide selection of bottles, such as The Original Ghost Scream Hot Sauce, Ghost Truffle Hot Sauce, Vindaloo Curry Hot Sauce, Green Reaper Hot Sauce, and El Verde Hot Sauce. If you enjoy heat and flavor, then these gourmet hot sauces are for you.