illustration by Kelly Edwards

Capsicum Chinense 101

A Habanero Primer

by Dave Dewitt

An old island adage says that the best Caribbean hot sauce is the one that burns a hole in the tablecloth. We've never seen that happen in all our trips to the Islands, but we're certain that the earliest hot sauces in the region were made with the crushed varieties of the species Capsicum chinense. These chiles originated in the Amazon Basin and many varieties were spread by mankind east to west along the chain of Caribbean islands from Trinidad to Cuba. In the Caribbean, the pepper is mostly called the Scotch bonnet. From Cuba, the species was introduced into the Yucatan Peninsula, where it got the name habanero, (Spanish for "from Havana.")

The Carib and Arawak Indians used pepper juice for seasoning, and after the "discovery" of chile peppers by Europeans, slave ship captains combined pepper juice with palm oil, flour, and water to make a "slabber sauce" that was served over ground beans to the slaves aboard ship. Homemade hot sauces are still common on the islands of the Caribbean. The sauces piquante and chien from Martinique and ti-malice from Haiti all combine shallots, lime juice, garlic, and the hottest chinenses available. Puerto Rico has two hot sauces of note: one is called pique and is made with acidic Seville oranges and habaneros; the other is sofrito, which combines small piquins ("bird peppers") with annatto seeds, cilantro, onions, garlic, and tomatoes. In Jamaica, Scotch bonnets are combined with the pulp and juices of mangoes, papayas, and tamarinds. The Virgin Islands have a concoction known as "Asher," which combines limes with habaneros, cloves, allspice, salt, vinegar, and garlic.

Commercial Imports

A good example of the combination of habaneros and other ingredients in a commercial sauce is Melinda's, made in Belize. Called Marie Sharp's Hot Sauce in the U.S., it combines habaneros, carrots, and onions, which makes for a milder, more flavorful sauce than simply combining the puréed chiles with vinegar.

Jamaica's Pickapeppa sauce has a flavor similar to Worcestershire sauce and has only a slight bite. The fruity flavor comes from mangos, raisins, and tamarind. However, it should be noted that the company has a much hotter version of Pickapeppa with more Scotch bonnets and fewer fruits.

The hot sauce called Matouk's owes its existence to a speech by Trinidadian political leader Dr. Eric Williams, who said that the variety of jams, jellies, sauces, and pickles made by housewives were an integral part of Trinidad's culture. However, he pointed out that as women gained employment, the nation was in danger of losing the tastes of the home kitchens of Trinidad and Tobago. George Matouk, a Trinidadian businessman, was inspired by Williams' speech, and in 1968 he founded Matouk's Food Products and began manufacturing jellies, jams, and hot sauces. In Matouk's, Congo peppers (the local name for habaneros) are combined with herbs, spices, and papayas -- in three heat levels. About half of their sauce production is consumed locally, and the rest is exported, mostly to the United States and Canada. The United States is the number one market for Matouk's Trinidadian hot sauces.

The last decade has seen an enormous explosion in habanero hot sauce production, with most of it in the United States. When a hot sauce power like the McIlhenny Company gets behind a designer pepper like the habanero, you just know that pepper is going mainstream. Look what that company did with tabascos and jalapeños -- they created two of the best-selling hot sauces in the industry. We can expect strong sales with their new Tabasco^® Habanero Hot Sauce, and a heightened interest in sauces made with specialty peppers like the habanero. There are now more than a hundred brands of habanero hot sauces, with more on the way.

Saucing the Habanero

Supermarket hot sauce sales are expected to top $127 million in 1997, but there are no statistics available on habanero sauces' share of that market. They certainly seem to be the fastest-growing category in the hot sauce industry, if numbers of new manufacturers is an indication. Almost every hot sauce manufacturer is adding one to its line of sauces. Hot sauce consumers are responding by becoming aficionados who have one favorite habanero sauce for fish, one for eggs, and another for drinks like the Bloody Maria.

There are three typical types of habanero hot sauces: purées, pickles or vinegars, and vegetable or fruit-based sauces. Purées are simply crushed or puréed habaneros, usually combined with a fruit juice such as lime as a preservative. These are extremely hot, but consumers use a small amount in cooking when fresh habaneros are not available. Pickles or vinegars are the whole or sliced fruits preserved in a vinegar solution. The vinegar is infused with heat and is used as a condiment for salads, soups, and fish dishes. These vary in heat, depending if other vegetables are pickled with the habaneros. Vegetable or fruit-based sauces usually use cooked carrots and onions, papayas, mangoes, or (in a few instances) tomatoes. These are by far the most common habanero hot sauces. In one case, Trinidad Habanero Pepper Sauce, succulent herbs such as Spanish thyme form the vegetable base. The most common additional flavorings are garlic and mustard powder.

What makes habanero sauces so appealing? Convenience, for one thing. An increasing number of people prefer their food with a bit of a bite, and hot sauces apply the heat swiftly, conveniently, and with a flavor that can be matched to the food being eaten. Also, habanero sauces have the unique selling proposition of being made from the hottest pepper species known; however, this heat is often tempered by using a vegetable or fruit base for the sauce. Lastly, the sauces have a delightfully fruity aroma and great taste.