The Mild Ingredients To Look For If You're New At Buying Hot Sauce
By ERIN SHAW
If you're new to purchasing hot sauce, starting with milder peppers is the way to go. Options like jalapeño, serrano, or even a cayenne pepper-based hot sauce are great gateways.
Peppers are deemed mild, medium, or hot based on how much capsaicin they have in them, and they are also rated by the Scoville scale, which measures units of heat.
For comparison, mild options like Anaheim chiles and Poblano peppers rate between 1,000 and 2,000 on the Scoville scale. Hot peppers like habaneros rate about 80,000 to 600,000.
Jalapeños, serranos, and cayenne peppers are in the middle range, which makes them common ingredients in hot sauces, but not so hot that they'll blast your face off.
If you want to try a hot sauce from a hotter pepper, start with smaller amounts. If you want to put tasty hot sauce on your tacos but can't take the heat, begin with milder sauces.