Description

You see a sauce with blueberries and blackberries on the label and think: nice, a little fruity sauce for the faint-hearted. Wrong. High River built this sauce around the Apollo pepper — Smokin’ Ed Currie’s creation — and the heat takes the lead, with the sour notes coming in second.

The floral hints of coriander, the tingle of ginger and the brown sugar come in to soften things up — but don’t be fooled, this is a forest fire wrapped in red berries and yuzu.

Featured on Hot Ones Season 24, this sauce passed the ultimate test: making celebrities sweat in front of millions. It held its own.

Key ingredients: Apollo pepper mash, apple cider vinegar, blueberries, blackberries, yuzu, coriander, ginger, brown sugar.

Pair it with: Pork ribs, lamb, BBQ — anything that can handle intense heat and benefits from a fruity counterpoint. Skip it on your spring salad.

Heat level: 8/10 on my scale — and this one’s not going away anytime soon, amigo. Seriously. The Apollo is not a decorative pepper.