Matt Bray 
What are Cherry Bomb peppers? Boy, the Cherry Bomb pepper comes loaded with a lot of expectations due to its moniker. You may be thinking here comes a mouth explosion! But, really, this hybrid chili carries more of a modest boom, about the heat of …
The next time you’re grilling chicken satay, think spicy with your peanut sauce. Sriracha’s sweet and garlicky heat provides a little oomph to the toasty peanut flavor. Or thin this spicy peanut sauce to create a tasty Asian salad dressing. Add a little lime (optional) to provide a tropical fruity tang. It works very well with the smooth nutty flavor and Sriracha’s spiciness.
Meatballs with Southern spice flair… This Cajun meatballs recipe may seem simple, but there’s a heck of a lot of flavor here. Cajun seasoning contains lots of delicious Southern spices like paprika, cayenne pepper powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. We top …
Scoville heat units (SHU): 1,000 to 2,500
Jalapeño reference point: Equal heat to 8 times milder
Origin: Mexico
Products and seeds: Chilaca pepper on Amazon
While the long and curvy chilaca pepper may not be the most recognizable (or findable) chili outside of Mexico, its dried form certainly has a fast growing following. When dried, the fresh chilaca chili becomes the popular pasilla pepper, part of the Holy Trinity of chilies used in traditional Mexican mole sauces. Yet there’s more to the chilaca pepper than being behind the scenes of a pepper scale star. There’s a family-friendly heat and a robust meaty flavor here – rich and slightly floral – that’s delicious in salsas.
Here’s a case of mistaken identity, times two. For two chili peppers that look truly nothing alike, there’s a lot of confusion that surrounds pasilla and poblano peppers. Supermarkets, in fact, often mislabel pasillas as poblanos (and vice versa), but how can that be the case …
Sure you could reach for that Absolut Peppar, and take the easy route to a spicy vodka. But where would the fun be in that? It’s so simple to turn that bottle of plain vodka into something hot, hot, hot. All you need is a few jalapeño peppers and time.
With the seeds removed, jalapeños provide a light amount of spice to your vodka. it’ll turn your everyday martinis and Bloody Marys into cocktails with extra oomph, but they won’t be so hot as to turn off the less-spicy inclined among your friends and family.
What are wiri wiri peppers? Sometimes it’s the littlest things that hold the biggest surprises. For instance, the Guyanese wiri wiri pepper may look little – like colorful cherries – but inside it contains sun-like heat rivaling habanero peppers and scotch bonnets (100,000 to 350,000 …
Traditional spiced gingerbread cookies already feature many delicious festive spices, like cloves, cinnamon, and allspice. All three are here, plus the addition of cayenne pepper powder for a spicy kick. Paired with the ground ginger powder, that’s a delicious amount of heat in these cookies. Be sure to label these cookies as “hot!” when serving to family and friends!
Everywhere you turn in this Cajun Bloody Mary recipe, you have delicious, delicious spice. It all starts with the Cajun seasoning, with its mix of spices, including cayenne. Top that with more cayenne powder, the famous Tabasco hot sauce, black pepper, and, of course, horseradish, and you have a tasty cocktail that punches hard.
It’s perfect for a Southern-style brunch. Serve it with Cajun shrimp and grits – we love the pairing. Want to make your own Cajun seasoning? Check out our recipe here.
On paper, habanero pepper and ranch dressing is sort of like fire and ice. One’s hot and somewhat fruity, the other creamy and smooth. But, chili peppers pair very well with “opposite” ingredients (chili chocolate anyone?), so it should come as no surprise that habanero ranch sauce is simply delicious. Pairing it with buffalo chicken wings is magic, and it’s a terrific side to crudité platters to bring some unique spice to the table.