Hot Sauce from Hawaii

Hot sauce lovers are a special breed. They discuss Scoville heat scales, and lust after fiery-looking bottles promising “spontaneous combustion!” Well, if you’re someone who loves to sweat, check out Arturo’s Hot Sauces, based here on Oahu.

 

The sauces are made in Honolulu, using products from farms on Oahu and the Neighbor Islands. The fresh, local ingredients are “extremely important to us,” says Arturo’s general manager, Steve Geimer. He often meets with farmers to strategize new ingredients, and also uses local tomatoes and cilantro for the company’s salsa line. 

 

He noticed that many of the farmers have green chiles, so he invented a new sauce, The Green Flash, around that supply. “It uses Thai chiles, serranos and jalapenos.”

 

The company has 20 flavors of hot sauce, including one for each island in Hawaii. Each sauce has an ingredient from its namesake, such as Lanai Hot Sauce’s pineapple and papaya flavors (Geimer suggests putting it on vanilla ice cream). A seventh sauce, Makai, is named in honor of the ocean and was formulated to enhance sushi and sashimi.

 

“Great Red Shark is one of our better sellers,” he says. “It’s habanero and Thai chiles, for people who like it really hot.” There’s a Guam-style sauce, Phitia, which caters to people who like the tangy, sour flavors of Guamian food. A super hot sauce,  North Shore Nitro, “ kept people happy for a while, but then they wanted something hotter,” says Geimer. “Now I’m working on Triple Treat.”

 

You can find the sauces through the company’s Web site, or, on Oahu at mom-and-pop shops, some gift shops, Hilo Hattie and the Navy Exchange. You can also call the company for more locations, (800) 715-1811.