Suriname vs Jamaica 🌶️ Hot Sauce Battle 🔥

     Capsaicin is an alkaloid naturally occurring within Capsicum plants ⁽¹⁾. To get our daily dose of this miracle drug, we generally consume chili peppers fresh in Cambodia, our former home. Here in Suriname, however, and the wider Caribbean, hot sauce is the preferred capsaicin delivery vehicle.

     Even though as Italists we feel fresh is best, we've been experimenting with hot sauces to see if the Cambodian portion of the Khmerican Family Abroad can find one they like. We eat chilies daily for all the wonderful benefits capsaicin provides. It has been proven effective for pain relief, migraine relief, cough suppression, younger-looking skin, general inflammation suppression and more ⁽¹⁾.

     If you're Jamaican and haven't heard of Grace's Hot Pepper Sauce, you've been living a box. This stuff is exported all over the world, and I've even seen it on Cambodian shelves in Phnom Penh.

     Think classic Tabasco if you want to know the flavor profile of Grace's Hot Pepper Sauce. I would argue it's less vinegary than Tabasco Sauce, but overall a very similar product.

     It's good stuff, and the only hot sauce available in Suriname that my family can eat without breaking a sweat and bursting into tears. It's mild, don't fear Grace's Hot Pepper Sauce.

     Rashida's All Naturel Hot Sauce is artisan-style, fire-hot and made at Rashida's house. The Madame Jeanette Pepper is what makes Suriname hot sauces so dangerous!!

     Suriname has around 500,000 citizens, so there just isn't an economy of scale like Jamaica has. In addition, there is no tourism here, so most people make and bottle products at home, and then arrange a sales deal with local neighborhood shops.

     Fire 🔥🚒!! Be careful with Suriname hot sauces; they are not for all. You have to put a bit on a spoon and then put that on your food, or you may be uber-devastated ☠️!

     Me personally, I love a bit of fire on my meals, so the Grace's Hot Pepper Sauce just doesn't cut it for me. Don't be fooled by the "VERY HOT" words written on the front of the bottle. You can grab the bottle, pop the top and turn it upside down over your food without fear.

     Rashida's All Naturel Hot Sauce has so much character that there is even a misspell on the label. I love that Suriname is full of locally made products sold in the corner shops. In Jamaica, you have the same ole' products behind iron bars on every corner throughout the country.

     I hope my Jamaican friends don't hate on me for dissin' Grace's, but you'll never know which is "Queen of the Hot Sauces" until you've tried both. Suriname hot sauces have character, and each one is a little different, showing the personality of the maker in the product.

     As long as you don't do something stupid like turn them upside down over your food and shake, you can safely enjoy Suriname-style hot sauces without trips to a local hospital.

     It doesn't take much on the tip of a spoon to get your daily dose of capsaicin from Rashida's All Naturel Hot Pepper Sauce. Unfortunately, you'll likely never taste fresh Suriname hot sauces until you come to Suriname in person.