Which Island Hot Sauce Is The Hottest?

We taste-tested hot sauces from a few different islands to find out which is the hottest.

How do you like your hot sauce? Tangy? Sweet? Scorching? Hot enough to set your hair on fire? We rounded up a few hot sauces from various islands to find out which one was the hottest. Watch our brave panel of tasters take the tongue-burning challenge.

Hotness scale: 1 (mild) to 4 (scorching)

Video shot and edited by: Stevan Llewellyn

Verdict: This light sauce from Maui was more of a sweet hot. It's not too heavy on the tongue, with a mild heat.

Rating: 1

Buy it here: Adoboloco Hawaiian Pineapple Hot Sauce

Hottest Hot Sauce: Eaton's West Indian Hot Mustard Sauce
Eaton's West Indian Hot Mustard Sauce | Stevan Llewellyn

Verdict: This hot sauce tastes like a spicier version of mustard. It would add a nice kick when added to a sandwich or a pretzel.

Rating: 1

Buy it here: Eaton's West Indian Hot Mustard Sauce

Hottest Hot Sauce: Aunt May's Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce
Aunt May's Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce | Stevan Llewellyn

Verdict: At first, you won't taste the heat so much. But Aunt May sneaks up on you, and the heat creeps into your throat. Wait for the kick at the end.

Rating: 2.5

Buy it here: Aunt May's Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce

Hottest Hot Sauce: Marie Sharp's Habanero Pepper Sauce
Marie Sharp's Habanero Pepper Sauce | Stevan Llewellyn

Verdict: This one is hot. As you taste the hot sauce, you feel the heat building... lingering... with a bite at the end. A few of our panelists likened the flavor to a spicier buffalo sauce (someone even described it as "buffalo sauce on steroids").

Rating: 3

Buy it here: Marie Sharp's Habanero Pepper Sauce

Hottest Hot Sauce: Pickapeppa Hot Mango Sauce
Pickapeppa Hot Mango Sauce | Stevan Llewellyn

Verdict: The heat for this milder sauce is on the sweet side, tasting more like mango than peppers. This was the general favorite flavor for all of our taste testers, but not the hottest hot sauce.

Rating: 2

Buy it here: Pickapeppa Hot Mango Sauce

Hottest Hot Sauce: Real Guyana Original Hot Crushed Pepper
Real Guyana Original Hot Crushed Pepper | Stevan Llewellyn

Verdict: Don't let the label (a peaceful scene of a waterfall and a humming bird) fool you. This hot sauce is a straight-up scorcher. Fire-engine red that looks like liquid pepper. The heat starts in our throat and keeps burning. A panelist described the taste as "lighter fluid on my tongue."

Rating: 4

Hottest Hot Sauce: Matouk's Trinidad Scorpion Pepper Sauce
Matouk's Trinidad Scorpion Pepper Sauce | Stevan Llewellyn

Verdict: This hot sauce was definitely the hottest. It mostly left our panel speechless and reaching for yogurt to quell the burn. It makes your "sweat glands start to churn" and even garnered a FIVE on a scale of four for heat level.

Rating: 5 (!)

Buy it here: Matouk's Trinidad Scorpion Pepper Sauce