Hot Sauce History From Kinnelon's Ted Whittemore

How much do you know about the history of hot peppers and hot sauce? This past December 8, 2010, Ted had the opportunity to do so at L'Ecole Museum [see Come to the Hot Sauce Talk at L'Ecole, Wed. Dec. 8th at 7pm] as part of the Kinnelon Community Garden lecture series about local resources. He focused on the history of hot peppers, the making of hot pepper sauce and then conducted a tasting of his very own SR Fresh Hot Sauces.

Present for the event was Ariana Cohn, editor of newly-launched Kinnelon-ButlerPatch, who wrote about Ted's event in Kinnelon Hot Sauce Maker Presents 'History of Hot Sauce'. It's a fun read and includes photos.

I found the history of hot peppers part of the presentation so fascinating that I'm calling your attention to a post that Ted wrote on the Fresh Hot Sauce blog titled A Brief History of Hot Peppers & Sauce with Observations!

I'm still digesting the implications of hot peppers being a New World discovery that wouldn't have been part of the cuisines that we currently associate with peppers - e.g., Chinese, Thai, Indian, even Italian, to name a few. Whether you like heat or not, the pepper fruit contributes marvelous flavor to all of our cuisines. The heat is a bonus for some, no?

Ted fielded questions about the different ways of making hot sauce as well as the role of salt in a hot pepper sauce.

If you'd like to learn more, feel free to leave comments or be on the lookout for a repeat performance at L'Ecole later in the year.