Fall 2025

The global spice trade has thrived for millennia. Whether over land or ancient maritime routes, merchants sold their aromatic wares as they competed to expand their markets. The spice traders who kidnapped Yosef HaTzadik on their way to Mitzrayim attest to the long history of this commodity. But the reference to spices in the Torah goes back even further. We find it by briyas haolam: barasi yetzer hara, barasi Torah tavlin vo – I have created the evil inclination, I have created Torah as a “spice” (i.e., an antidote) to counter it.[1]

The word spice originated from the Latin species, meaning sort or kind (interestingly, the same meaning that species has today) and it referred to an item of special value. Ancient Roman merchants deeply prized Indian black pepper which they considered more precious than gold, terming it “black gold.” This pungent and versatile spice has an estimated heat rating on the Scoville scale ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 Scoville heat units (SHU). 

I was on a hashgacha assignment in Louisiana’s Bayou Country many years ago when I was introduced to the Scoville scale, a metric that measures the spiciness of chili peppers and other fiery substances.[2] Scoville heat units are based on the concentration of capsaicin and other components in the pepper. Habanero peppers topped the scale with an average score of 100,000 SHU, followed by tabasco at 80,000; cayenne and jalapeno each at 20,000; and trailed by the banana pepper at a paltry 500. (By way of contrast, the lowly green pepper has a SHU score of zero.) These hot chili peppers comprise the base ingredient of the popular condiment we know as “hot sauce.”

Trending From Hot To Hotter

Middle Eastern countries have long imported Louisiana hot sauce in little bottles that grace their supper tables and which are basically emptied by the end of the meal. In Israel, those hot sauces are popularly referred to as charif – superhot! Today, hot sauces are becoming even hotter. New trends in consumer preferences are emerging, with a notable shift to spicy foods and condiments. Demand for charif has traveled from Middle Eastern to mainstream kosher cuisine. Our tables may now feature fire poppers and spicy tuna poke bowls alongside our traditional foods. Hot honey is fast becoming a pantry staple alongside barbecue sauce and ketchup, spurring the new “swicy” (sweet and spicy) trend.

The hot sauce market is projected to reach $4.9 billion by 2026, a 78 percent increase from 2020. The hottest peppers of yesterday which had a SHU score in the hundreds of thousands have since been overtaken by new scorchers rating in the millions. At one point, the Naga Viper pepper (1 million SHU) was thought to be the hottest in the world. Crossbreeding the Habanero (100,00 SHU) with the Viper gave rise to the Carolina Reaper, with a tongue-scorching Scoville rating of 2.2 million SHU. There’s now an even hotter crossbred variety called Pepper X (2.6 million SHU), and if the trend continues, it won’t be the hottest for long.

While there are no exceptions to Koheles’ insight that there is nothing new under the sun, the Ribono Shel Olam has imbued man with the chochma to constantly innovate using what is already available in His briyah. Thus, through the wonders of crossbreeding, we are seeing peppers getting hotter and hotter alongside consumers’ growing tolerance and demand for all things hot.

The Miracle of Crossbreeding

The process to crossbreed pepper varieties is no different than developing different varieties of apples: to create a new variety, breeders take pollen from one parent apple and use it to pollinate the flower of another parent apple.[3] The resulting seeds are planted and the new apple variant is cultivated from the seedling that grows from them.

The popular Honey Crisp apple is a hybrid of Honey Gold and Macoun which was first introduced in 1991. Breeders have since taken the Honey Crisp and crossed it with an Enterprise apple to produce the Cosmic Crisp. Thousands of new apple varieties were developed – and continue to be developed – this way. The emergence of new “super-hot” peppers is the result of similar efforts.

The Secret Behind the Heat

The secret to a hot and flavorful sauce is to slowly age the peppers. The fresh peppers are sun-dried, washed, ground blended with salt, fed as a mash into a brining tank, then left to mature for one to two years. Even in 1994, when I made my first acquaintance with a pepper mash, the working principle was “the longer the aging, the hotter the mash.”

At the end of the aging period, the mash is homogenized and pumped into holding tanks. The mash is then mixed with grain vinegar in the brining tanks. Typically, brining consists of a saltwater solution, but brining hot sauce requires vinegar as the media. Finally, the mash passes through cutters and filters to produce the fiery red liquid in its distinctive hot sauce bottle. Note that the only kosher-sensitive ingredient in this entire process is the vinegar.

Concerns When Blending with a Davar Charif

Blending with a davar charif (a “sharp” spice) can be a cause for kashrus concerns if the recipe calls for natural chicken or beef flavors or meat hydrolyzed proteins. If these are hot when blended, the mixing vessel will be rendered non-kosher and possibly impact the next charif chili blend as well. Similarly, if a hot dairy blend calls for non-kosher cheese, the mixing vessel will compromise the status of a subsequent kosher pareve chili blend.

Chili Production By-Products

Hot sauce is but one of the many products resulting from a chili pepper production. Others include:

•  Dried/Dehydrated Products (peppers, flakes, powders) – produced by sun-drying, grinding and sifting; these present few to no kashrus concerns.
• Wet-Processed Products (canned/frozen items, product mixes) – these require strict kosher supervision.
•  Oleoresin Extractions (used as a natural red colorant in condiments and cosmetics) – if alcohol is used to extract the resin from the spice, the alcohol requires kosher certification; for Passover productions, the alcohol must be certified Kosher for Pesach.
• Essential Oil Extractions (used as flavorings in savory items) – usually cold pressed or extracted with steam and without the use of solvents; present few to no kashrus concerns.

A Closing Thought

As we pause to reflect on Shlomo Hamelech’s words of wisdom, ain kol chadash tachas hashemesh, we can’t help but be astounded when observing how the Ribono Shel Olam’s world unfolds when He gives us the insight to unlock these natural discoveries.

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[1] Kedushin 30b.

[2] Unlike chili peppers, which contain capsaicin, the heat in black pepper comes from piperine. While the Scoville scale is designed to measure the capsaicin content of chili peppers, the heat from piperine can be similarly measured.

[3] Crossbreeding involves kilayim, which is a forbidden act for a Yehudi but permitted for an aino Yehudi. According to halacha, however, any produce that results from this action is permitted. Thus, we can freely enjoy the consumption of pluots (plum-apricots), tangelos (tangerine-pomelos) and Jonagold apples (Golden Delicious-Jonathans), among many, many others.