The recipe used to make Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce dates back to the late 19th century and the company started making its signature sauce in 1920. It has acquired a strong following among people who enjoy its milder heat and strong acidity in the years since. Frank’s RedHot famous for being the sauce used to make the original Buffalo wings in Buffalo, New York.
Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Sauce is popular among those who prefer hot sauces with a gentler heat, but how healthy is it? Does using it provide any health benefits?
Moderate sodium
A teaspoon of Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne sauce contains 190 mg of sodium, which is 8 percent of your daily requirement. The sodium content is considerably more than the 35 mg you get from a teaspoon of Tabasco and the 130 mg that you get from that same serving size of Crystal Hot Sauce. Even so, Frank’s RedHot contains significantly less sodium than Louisiana Hot Sauce, which contains 240 mg of sodium or more than 10 percent of your daily requirement.
A low-sodium diet can help to reduce high blood pressure, which is a major cause of heart disease. Most people should consume no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day but people who suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes should lower that amount to about 1,500 mg.
Low calorie
Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Sauce is equal to most other hot sauces in that it has no calories in a single-teaspoon serving. This means that it is fine to use if losing weight is one of your goals. Its 0 calorie count per serving makes it better for weight loss than Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce and La Victoria Salsa Brava, both of which have 5 calories per serving. The calorie count in those hot sauces is mainly due to their sugar content; both have 1 g of sugar in each serving.
Vitamins
Frank’s RedHot actually does contain a vitamin, unlike most hot sauces like Tabasco Original Red Sauce and Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce from Huy Fong Foods. A teaspoon of Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce contains 2 percent of your daily vitamin A requirement. Vitamin A is important for maintaining your vision, immune system and is necessary for proper function of various organs including your lungs liver and kidneys.
Capsaicin
Scoville Heat Units (SHUs) are used to measure the heat of chili peppers like the ones used to make Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Sauce. The heat comes from the capsaicin in the peppers; this means that the more concentrated the capsaicin, the hotter the peppers. That measurement of heat can also be applied to sauces made with those peppers. Frank’s RedHot offers a modest 450 SHUs. This is less heat than is found in most other hot sauces including Tabasco Original Red Hot Sauce and Texas Pete’s Hot Sauce.
Capsaicin’s health benefits include its ability to lower your heart disease risk by reducing your blood cholesterol level as well as your blood pressure.
Minerals
Unfortunately, Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Sauce does not contain any minerals per serving. This is the case for most hot sauces. Tabasco, Sriracha and Tapatio are all popular hot sauces and none of them has any of the major nutritional minerals per serving.
Photo Credit: Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, at Costco, 6/2015, by Mike Mozart o… | Flickr
Does it require refrigeration ?