Salsa from the World's Hottest Chili Pepper

Here’s a salsa that may make grown men and women cry. Mrs. Renfro’s Ghost Pepper Salsa ($4.19/16–ounce  jar; renfrofoods.com) only debuted this past summer and already took third-place honors at the 2011 Scovie Awards, the world’s leading recognition for hot and spicy products. The secret ingredient is the Ghost Pepper, also known as Bhut Jolokia, which has been certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s hottest chili pepper.

But it’s not for the faint of heart. “For people who like spicy foods, it is delicious and just right,” says owner Doug Renfro. “For the rest of us, it’s too hot.” If the sound of this pepper is making your tongue wag, consider using it to heat up some of your dishes. Renfro warns, “Add sparingly to any bland recipe you may have, but start with a tablespoon, not a cup!”

Sounds intense, but Renfro was working on more than a hunch when he created it. “Of our 30 Renfro items, the best-selling two were also our hottest: Green and Habanero. To me, this indicated that a market existed for even hotter,” he says. Initial sales have verified his theory—Ghost Pepper has been the fastest-growing new item in the company’s history.

Renfro Foods, a third-generation family business founded 70 years ago, has a long history of inventing popular items. What started as a packaged spices and pepper sauce business later expanded to include syrup, jellies, preserves and chow chow (a pickled condiment of Southern origins, with cabbage, onion and sweet pepper), and then salsa. Today Renfro Foods manufactures a variety of salsas, sauces and relishes, including 30 Mrs. Renfro’s products.—Denise Shoukas

Denise Shoukas is a regular foodspring.com contributor and is the
author of foodspring’s food forager blog.

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