Matt Bray, Author at PepperScale

A bowl of chunky pico de gallo beside a bowl of smooth red salsa, with tortilla chips, a lime half and a jalapeño on a wooden table

Pico De Gallo Vs. Salsa: What Are The Differences?

Pico de gallo vs. salsa: why every pico is a salsa but not every salsa is pico, plus how they differ in heat, taste, texture, shelf life and kitchen use.

Original Louisiana Hot Sauce: A Cajun Staple

by Matt Bray

Cajun in the kitchen. The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce has a long history of bringing Cajun spices to life in the south. Since 1928 it’s been a Southern staple, and for good reason. This simple hot sauce nails it for Cajun flavor with just the …

Salsa verde on a table surrounded by tomatillos and chili peppers.

What Is Salsa Verde?

by Matt Bray

What Mexican salsa verde is made of, where it comes from, how hot it gets, the difference between raw, boiled and roasted versions, and how it compares with Italian salsa verde.

Can You Freeze Salsa?

by Matt Bray

Salsa is everywhere these days – it is after all one of the most popular condiments in the world, if not THE most popular. But what do you do with the extra salsa you have sitting around, whether homemade or from the store? Can you freeze salsa to use at a later date? Or do the flavors and texture tend to dissipate over time?

Ancho Chili Powder Vs. Chili Powder: PepperScale Showdown

by Matt Bray

What’s in an extra word?

Say you have a recipe calling for ancho chili powder. Is it safe to substitute the regular chili powder, the one so prevalent in most spice racks? Are they the same thing, or at least very similar? Will the taste be different in the dish itself?

There are, in fact, some pretty distinct differences between these two chili powders which make them not optimal substitutes for each other. Let’s break things down through an ancho chili powder vs. chili powder PepperScale showdown.

What Is Liquid Cayenne Pepper?

by Matt Bray

Sure you’ve seen cayenne pepper powder, capsules, and flakes, but liquid cayenne pepper? What’s that exactly? Think of it like fast-acting cayenne pepper pills. It’s a staple for those looking for a healthy energy booster, weight reducer, and pain reliever, just to name a few. …

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

by Matt Bray

We love this spicy pumpkin soup not just because it’s fiery, but because it literally uses a big portion of all that’s spicy from the spice rack. You’ve got chipotle, paprika, chili powder, and cayenne pepper powder all in one dish. Oh yeah, it’s tasty. …

Five Ghost Pepper Facts That May Surprise You

by Matt Bray

The Bhut Jolokia, better known as the ghost pepper, is one of the most infamous hot peppers around. It has a rock-star cool name, and there are a gazillion hot sauces out there that use the Bhut. But there are things you may not know about this super-hot pepper that may surprise you.

Here are five ghost pepper facts that you can wow your friends with the next time you’re going for the ghost. Want to know more? Take a look at our full article on ghost pepper to see how it really fits into the pepper scale.

What To Do With Chili Peppers? Five Easy Ideas

by Matt Bray

Chili peppers are one of those ingredients that can stump the uninitiated.

If you’re wondering what to do with chili peppers that you may have sitting around your kitchen, here are five simple ideas that’ll help get your imagination going. They’re very easy to try, and each acts as a gateway to a lot of cool culinary exploration of some of the spiciest foods out there. Soon you’ll be wanting to put chilies into EVERYTHING, and we say welcome to the club!

Basic Jalapeño Relish

by Matt Bray

Add some spicy zip to hamburgers and hot dogs… Turn a typical barbecue into something with a lot more spice by upgrading those condiments. This basic jalapeño relish puts the “HOT” in hot dog, and it tastes incredible on burgers too. It’s a refreshing mix …