Best-Selling Sauces & Seasonings for August

Scorned Woman Hot Sauce

We had a new best-selling sauce in August, along with a few other newcomers to our monthly top ten list and the return of a couple of favorites that hadn't made the cut in a while. Several North Carolina products were also in the top ten last month. Here's the list (with descriptions and quick links to where you can buy each product), and you can also find it on the Carolina Sauce Company home page.

1.  Dethroning the champion that had reigned for two consecutive months is Scorned Woman Hot Sauce, an all-purpose pepper-vinegar hot sauce that will fire up your food without changing or masking its flavors. Habanero peppers, jalapeno peppers and black pepper provide three different levels of heat in one tangy vinegar sauce that you can enjoy at the table or in your favorite recipes.

2. Slipping down to the second slot for the first time in two months is our all-time best-seller, Wells Hog Heaven Barbecue Sauce from the tiny eastern NC town of Burgaw, which is just outside Wilmington, NC. If you enjoy vinegar barbecue sauces that are tangy and a little bit spicy, with no tomatoes, then you'll love Wells BBQ Sauce, especially on Carolina pulled pork barbeque or as a marinade for chicken.

3. Holding steady in third place again is Matouk's Hot Calypso Sauce, a savory, spicier and less sweet relative of Matouk's West Indian Hot Sauce (which is a few spots lower on this list). Matouk's Calypso adds authentic Caribbean flavor and fire to meats, poultry, seafood, vegetarian dishes like rice & beans, hearty stews and more.

JT Pappy's Gator Grenade

4.  Also repeating its July finish is Walkerswood Traditional Jamaican Jerk Seasoning, a classic jerk wet rub or paste made in Jamaica from mashed scotch bonnet peppers, Jamaican allspice, scallions, thyme, garlic and other traditional jerk ingredients. Rub it on meat, poultry or seafood before grilling, roasting or cooking and get ready to experience the fiery flavors of Jamaica.

5.  Returning to the monthly top-ten products list is J.T. Pappy's Gator Grenade Hot BBQ Sauce,  a very hot mustard-tomato barbecue sauce that's savory, not sweet, and is excellent on ribs (beef and pork), chops, brisket, chicken and grilled vegetables. It's also made from all-natural ingredients, and has no high-fructose corn syrup!

6. Matouk's West Indian Hot Sauce dropped a few spots from its 2nd place finish in July. Similar to the spicier Calypso sauce from Matouk's but sweeter, this feisty traditional West Indian hot sauce is made from papayas, scotch bonnet peppers and savory spices in a thick and tangy mustard base. The tangy-hot and tropical-fruit flavors are superb with chicken, fish and seafood, or in veggie & rice dishes.

7. Dave's Insanity Sauce is credited (or blamed) for starting the ultra-hot hot sauce craze some years ago, and for the first time in recent memory the original "hottest sauce in the universe" is on our list of best-selling sauces. This tomato-vinegar hot sauce is made from a secret blend of hot peppers and a healthy (or unhealthy, depending on your perspective) dose of pepper extract for an unforgiving and unrelenting burn.

Semper Fi Hot Sauce

8. Dave's Ghost Pepper Naga Jolokia Hot Sauce is made from the lethally-hot ghost pepper, aka naga or bhut jolokia, which is its primary ingredient. As if that wasn't extreme enough, the next listed ingredient is pepper extract. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'll be blunt: Number 8 on August's list of best-selling sauces is extremely hot, and you'll need only a drop or two to add insane levels of heat to any dish you dare to use it on.

9. For the first time in well over a year, Scott's Barbecue Sauce is finally back on our best-sellers list. This spicy-hot, traditional Eastern NC BBQ sauce (vinegar, no tomatoes, no sugar) has been made by the same family for several generations using a recipe created over a century ago. Use it on pulled or chopped pork BBQ, splashed on collards or other greens, and as a spicy marinade for chicken.

10.  Making its debut on our top-ten list of best-selling products is Semper Fi Marine Corps Hot Sauce, an all-natural Caribbean-style habanero hot sauce from Camp Lejeune, NC. The gold-foil label is emblazoned with the official Marine Corps seal, making this versatile hot sauce the perfect gift for any hot-sauce loving Marine.

Zestfully yours,
Gloria