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When you first hear about a hot sauce store, your first thought might be something along the lines of "a whole store just for hot sauce?" And this makes sense — because for years, there were only four or five hot sauces readily available in the U.S., and they'd fit on an end cap at your local grocery store. But this is not the case anymore.
Hot sauce fever is sweeping the nation, and there are lots of brands creating unique hot sauces ranging from mild to mind-blowing. Hot sauce stores house and sell all these specialty sauces. Plus, when you visit a hot sauce store, you get to do a bit more than just buy hot sauce. Here are a few other benefits you'll get out of a visit to a hot sauce store.
Taste Testing
With the hot sauce trend being pretty new, many people haven't had a chance to try a lot of sauces and see what they like. Trying them by buying a bottle at a time can get expensive since many of the top sauces cost $15 - $20 a bottle. To help shoppers expand their palate at less expense, many hot sauce stores offer tasting opportunities to visitors. They may rotate sauces and always have a few out to taste, or they may have a policy by which they allow you to try any sauce at all before you buy it. Either way, taking part in a tasting can help you narrow down which sauce brands you like, which peppers you like in sauces, and just how hot of a sauce you can tolerate.
Pepper Education
There are many kinds of hot peppers out there. You can probably name a few of the more common ones — jalapeno, cayenne, serrano, poblano. But then there are the less common ones, like habanero, Scotch bonnet, and Carolina Reaper. A hot sauce store is a perfect place to learn about these peppers. You can read the hot sauce bottles to learn which bottles contain which peppers. There may even be posters on the wall sharing information about the peppers used to make the various sauces.
Recommendations
People typically do not work at a hot sauce store unless they really love hot sauce. This means that if you strike up a conversation with an employee at the hot sauce store, they should be able to share a lot of recommendations. They can tell you which foods pair well with various sauces. They can give you tips to tame the heat, and so much more.
If you come across a hot sauce store, go in and check it out. Not only will you get to buy some hot sauce, but you'll also get to taste the hot sauces, learn about peppers, and get some recommendations.
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