Frank's Red Hot

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Frank's Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce in a 12oz bottle
Frank's Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce in a 12oz bottle
Heat: Mild (SR: 450)

Frank's Red Hot is a hot sauce made from a variety of cayenne peppers.

Contents

[edit] History

Its history dates back to 1896 to the Frank Tea and Spice Company founded by Jacob Frank near the banks of the Ohio River in Cincinnati, Ohio. Frank would in 1918 contract for the Estilette Pepper Farm in Louisiana where Adam Estilette and Jacob Frank became business partners. The two men mixed spices, vinegar, garlic and cayenne peppers; they blended them and allowed them to age, and created the original blend of Frank's Red Hot as it first appeared on the market in 1920.

It is known as the primary ingredient in the first buffalo wing sauce, concocted in 1964 by Teressa Bellissimo at the Anchor Bar and Grill in Buffalo, New York. As the story goes, Teressa and her husband Frank were about to close up for the evening when a group of their son Dominic's friends came in for a late night snack. To oblige them, Teressa prepared some chicken wings, splashed on a special sauce with Frank's RedHot Sauce and added celery and blue cheese dressing.

In 1977 Frank's RedHot was sold to Durkee Famous Foods. As of 2007 it is owned by Reckitt Benckiser. Because Reckitt Benckiser also owns French's foods, Frank's RedHot is now often marketed alongside and advertised with French's Mustard and Cattleman's BBQ sauce.

[edit] Products

Today, the company produces six different flavors all based around the original recipe:

  • Frank's Original RedHot Cayenne Pepper Sauce
  • Frank's RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce
  • Frank's RedHot XTRA Hot Sauce
  • Frank's RedHot Buffalo Sandwich Sauce
  • Frank's RedHot Chile n' Lime Hot Sauce
  • Frank's RedHot Gold Fever Zing Sauce (Foodservice Only)

[edit] How hot is it?

As the scale below shows, French's claims that Frank's RedHot is one of the mildest sauces sold as hot sauce.

Scoville Scale [1]
Frank's RedHot Original 450
Frank's RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce 284
Frank's RedHot XTRA Hot 2,085
Frank's RedHot Buffalo Sandwich Sauce 305
Frank's RedHot Gold Fever Zing Sauce 272
TABASCO Red 3,050
Texas Pete 747

[edit] External links