Extreme Teen Flavors

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

It all began several months ago when my son tried green Tabasco sauce, part of an experiment for a new recipe I was working on. Tangy and peppery, the green sauce doesn’t have the heat of the well-known red Tabasco.

He loved it. And it wasn’t long before we saw any and all foods—from eggs to lunchmeat sandwiches and soups—getting treated to this condiment addition. Yet little did we know, this was really the start of something new … for it wasn’t long before the green AND red Tabasco bottles were regular additions to our table. From there evolved an interest in trying all the many different kinds of hot sauce at the grocery store. Keeping my eyes peeled for new ones as I shop, we’ve discovered a large and changing array, from Texas Pete’s to Crystal hot sauce—all superb for spicing up breakfast, lunch and dinner.

From what I’ve heard, these hot flavors are pretty popular with the teen crowd too. A few of my son’s high school friends have been known to even tuck a bottle of Dave’s Insane Hot Sauce in their pocket to test tongue tolerance while waiting for the bus. I’ve heard that just one drop of some of these hotties can actually fire up the tongue for the whole 30 minute bus ride home!

But really, the most fun has been in the experimenting and the exploration—and, of course, the tasting of the different flavors, for each one has its own unique flavor and heat. And I’m seeing that there’s no end to the experimental, inventive spirit that this age brings to food exploration. The teenage years bring forth the timely desire to try new things and to go new places—extreme flavors included. And while some activities fall into a range of 'extreme' that can naturally make a parent wary (and worry), food falls into my range of safe and manageable exploits. Yeah, it’s one area that we can embrace with a smile—especially if our own palates aren’t quite as daring. We can support and commiserate (and supply cooling beverages!) as needed.

And cayenne has a plus side that’s not all hot air. Recent nutritional research notes that cayenne has been discovered to contain some super health benefits—most notably to rev up metabolism to burn fat. And that’s good news for most of us.

Cayenne or red pepper (Capsicum frutenscens) is the spicy, hot berry-type fruit from a shrubby tropical plant native to South America. With a 7,000-year old history, cayenne pepper has been used for a wide variety of ailments, from sore throats and respiratory infections to fevers and asthma. Best of all, cayenne not only heats and jazzes up daily fare, it’s filled with vitamin C and carotene.

The heat in cayenne comes from a compound called capsaicin. Capsaicin has plenty of health benefits up its sleeve, from its ability to lower body temperature (and thus make tropical temps more tolerable) to increasing the body’s basal metabolic rate that stimulates the burning of fat for energy. In a recent study, subjects who ate meals with varying amounts of fat and carbs were compared, and results showed that the burning of fat for energy was dramatically improved with the addition of red pepper (10 grams) to the meal—and especially the high-fat meal. And 10 grams translates to a little over 2 teaspoons. I think it’s safe to say that some member(s) of our family are indeed ingesting the appropriate quantities. Others not!

So, if your tongue and stomach can stand the heat, go ahead and experiment with those hot sauce condiments. Not only will they keep you up with the times, they just might help burn off some of those holiday desserts.

So—does anyone like it hot at your house? What bottle of hot sauce finds its way to your table frequently?

Serves/Makes: 1

• 2 eggs (for a smaller serving size, use half as much)
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon hot cayenne pepper sauce
• 1/8 teaspoon oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder