January 22nd is Hot Sauce Day. Are you more of a Tabasco person, or do the spicy chili peppers of Southeast Asia the ones that get your mouth watering? Should hotness be combined with salty flavors or rather sweet ones? Whatever you believe and whatever your preferences, if you are one of those people who feels that “spicy” is never quite spicy enough, Hot Sauce Day is the perfect holiday for you!

History of Hot Sauce Day

Humans started using chili peppers and other such spices thousands of years ago. In South and Central America, there is evidence for chili peppers being used for cooking as early as 6,000 years ago, but they never reach Europe until the 16th century, when Portuguese and Spanish explorers began sending all sorts of unusual foods from the New World back home. The first hot sauce to be available in a bottle appeared in shops in the state of Massachusetts in the year 1807, and then suddenly, hot sauce was everywhere and being added to everything. Tabasco sauce is one of the earliest brands to have come into existence that still exists today, being bottled and sold for the first time in 1868.