I will readily admit that I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to spicy foods. At best I don’t mind a hotter side of mild sauce with my wings. I don’t even want habaneros near my meals, let alone Carolina Reapers, Ghost Peppers, or Guatemalan Insanity Peppers. What can I say, I like my food and my pain to be separate experiences. I’m weird like that.
So it’s safe to say that I’m not the target audience for this insane new hot sauce — but that doesn’t make it any less interesting.
The pain enthusiasts at Britain’s Venomtech have come up with the ultimate hot sauce, based on the venom of the Trinidad chevron tarantula.
Steven Trim, the founder of Venomtech, came up with the idea of developing a venom-based hot sauce while working with the spiders for a pharmacological project.
After spending countless hours working with hundreds of the arachnids, along with food marketer Stefano Cuomo, Steve developed and launched Steve’s Scientific Sauce.
Without getting into any specific number of Scoville units, Steve’s Scientific Sauce promises quite a bite.
“It’s as best as we can manage without actually tasting the venom,” Steve told The New York Post . “It’s a similar heat component that the venom would cause.”
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The Trinidad chevron tarantula was the natural choice because of one curious quirk of its venom.
While its venom isn’t nasty enough to kill, the Trinidad chevron spider can still send predators running with a good bite because the venom activates the same pain receptors that hot chilies do.
It doesn’t paralyze, but it does give a good burn.
Now, it’s important to note that Steve’s Scientific Sauce doesn’t have any actual spider venom in it.
Instead, the sauce uses a synthetic venom to produce its burning sensation. “I did think it was crazy. I laughed it off at the time and said it was hilarious to do. Nobody has been foolish enough to try the venom,” Steve said.
That said, this is a true hot sauce, not just synthesized spider venom in a bottle.
According to the website for Steve’s Scientific Sauce, it also contains cider vinegar, beetroot, red peppers, chilies, water, sugar, garlic, ginger, tamarind, herbs & seasonings, salt, and thickener.
Considering that no spiders are harmed in the production process, the sauce also promises that it’s suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
So does Steve’s Scientific Sauce actually deliver a good roasting to the tastebuds?
“It’s hot, so for people who are big chili fans they often say it could be hotter,” said Steve, “and for people who aren’t they say it’s hot, so it’s nicely in the middle. People who really like their chilies often say it’s really warm.”