• If you have a question about commercial production or the hot sauce business, please post in Startup Help.

Honey in hot sauce

Has anyone used honey in their sauce and found it to slowly lower the heat level? I've made a few honey garlic habanero sauces and after a month of so it's maybe only a quarter as hot as day one. Perhaps a pasteurized honey would not do this?
 
I just tried making sauce with honey in it too. Its been a few weeks since making it and I haven't noticed a difference but I also used scorpions so it may make it a little more difficult to tell. It may also depend on the amount/ ratio you put into the recipe that could make a difference.
 
There is alway a trade off between sweet and hot. Sweet will kill some of the heat that's why alot a sauce venders will keep a sugar bowl handy incase someone tries a sauce that's too far beyond their tollerance. If you make a sweet hot sauce just add additional peppers to compensate for the loss.
 
Your sauce mellowed. I always advise people to try their bottled sauces a month later. They will taste different, so if you want to know how customers are going to taste your sauce, after sitting on a shelf, then you can't judge it right after you make it.

No, sugar does not neutralize capsaicin. It displaces it (removes oils from tongue, like milk, but not as effectively), and then it is swallowed. So, if it's in the bottle, there is no displacement. Where would it go? Nothing neutralizes capsaicin chemically, but there are ways to relieve the sensation, and just barely.

The honey did not kill off heat. Your sauce mellowed after aging. Flavors melded and capsaicin was absorbed into some of the ingredients, etc.

You know how marination works? It is similar, and your sauce has now marinated. Chunks, even small ones, have absorbed liquids, chemical things have happened, etc. etc. It has become one.
 
Yes, especially in sauce made with superhots (ex. 7's, bhuts, douglahs). I do not have any specific amount used, but if I was to guess-to-mate, would say a heavy tablespoon to 32 oz. of cooked finished sauce. Honey (never sugar)) seems to knock the edge off the harshness (bite) of the sauce. As mentioned above, aging accomplishs the same thing. Noticeable difference between a new sauce and one that has been setting for a couple of months (except for douglah sauce, it just stays ridiculously hot and nasty).

Molasses can also be used. Made a caribbean style sauce with scotch bonnets and used molasses. Excellent heat (without being overpowering) and a hint of sweetness. Use it as a marinade and baste for grilled chicken and pork.
 
glad yall brought this up i made a mango honey garlic chip dip it was only like 8-10 oz in volume used 6 or 7 habaneros with seed in em i was expecting hot hot but it was just hot after a week in fridge it was no hotter than off the shelf tabasco sauce winded up eating it with a spoon tasty just not fiery enough for me melowing i will have to consider next time i make hot sauce made a tabasco habanero blend last night with just peppers vinegar salt and a splash of jack daniels cant wait to eat some today i do like simple pepper sauces better than complex hot sauses with dozens of ingredients, to absorb all my heat LOL!
 
I was actually thinking about dong this with my batch of peppers that'll pop later this year. Thanks for all the info!
 
I have added honey to my favorite sauces as i love my sweet and hot combination , and found that it gives them that sweet taste while taking a little away from the hotness............
 
I made a pineapple/papaya honey habanero sauce about 6 weeks ago, if anything it's gotten hotter and lost the fruitiness of it.... It still has the same smell, just not the taste.
 
Back
Top