I enjoy spicy food, but I find that the traditional practice of "adding more hot sauce" doesn't always succeed in making food spicier.

Imagine a small bottle or container with two compartments, connected by a small valve. The first is filled with some sort of spicy substance-- perhaps an extract of the Scotch Bonnet pepper. The second compartment is empty, and has an opening on the opposite side of the valve. When preparing the sauce for consumption, one could fill the empty compartment with water, or a similar liquid (Tabasco?), then open the valve for a short time--longer for a more spicy sauce, and shorter for a milder sauce. Lastly, one could shake the container to mix the liquid and spicy substance, then use it on his/her food.
-- Lottere, Aug 25 2009

Scotch Bonnet Pepper http://en.wikipedia...tch_bonnet_(pepper)
[Lottere, Aug 25 2009]

Wikipedia: Ghost Chili aka Naga Jolokia http://en.wikipedia...Naga_Jolokia_pepper
Elephant repellant and culinary delight. [jutta, Aug 28 2009]

How can adding hot sauce not make food spicier?
-- DrWorm, Aug 25 2009


I think adding cream to horseradish sauce "calms" it down.
-- Dub, Aug 26 2009


DrWorm, at a certain level, adding more hot sauce simply adds flavor, not spiciness, to a food. In my experience. I'm sure you'll agree.
-- Lottere, Aug 26 2009


Whilst a well stocked array of spices and condiments would get around this as [21 Quest] says, still a highly commendable idea in my opinion.
-- kaz, Aug 26 2009


[+]

Perhaps what is needed is a machine resembling a paint colour blending machine, which can add varying proportions of different ingredients (spices and flavourings) from large reservoirs.
-- 8th of 7, Aug 26 2009


operated by a dial which would open the spicy valve wider or smaller, labelled appropriately and/or color coded
-- CaptainClapper, Aug 26 2009


I like the whole '2-part epoxy' kit appeal of this.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 27 2009


I'm not sure if it would be feasible to create a container with a valve small and controllable enough to use pepper spray as the spicy substance. After all, pepper spray has an extremely high capsaicin content, and an extremely small amount could make the sauce very spicy.
-- Lottere, Aug 28 2009


"Spicy" in this context means "hot" rather than "artfully flavoured with a complex palette of spices"?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 28 2009


Quite so, quite so. But then why call it "spiciness" rather than just "hotness"? Even "hotness" is more complex than a simple "more/less" scale - for example, mustard gives a different kind of hotness than peppers.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 28 2009


I am not putting milk hot sauce on my food. Unless you trick me.
-- normzone, Aug 28 2009


// a valve small and controllable enough to use pepper spray as the spicy substance. //

What about an inkjet printer nozzle, using semiconductor resistors ? There might need to be a flushing/purging mechanism, and you'd have to filter out particulates, but they can reproducibly generate minute, precise droplets.

Corrosion might be an issue too.
-- 8th of 7, Aug 28 2009


(I think) It's the oils in milk that helps it to neutralize spiciness, so why not use oil as a neutralizer?
-- Lottere, Aug 28 2009


// pepper spray wouldn't deter her //

No, but lard might.
-- 8th of 7, Aug 29 2009


This idea predates my slightly more complex but very similar idea. So I'm deleting mine, but pasting it here:

This hot sauce would come in four bottles stuck together and culminating in a single outlet. Each bottle would have a one-way valve and a dial to turn to change the amount of the ingredient. There would be a small chamber at the intersection for mixing. One bottle would have an extremely hot sauce. The second would have vinegar. The third would have saturated brine. The fourth bottle would have a tap at the top and be used as desired to rinse out the chamber with water.

By turning the dials a person could select how hot, salty, and sour one's hot sauce should be for a given use.
-- Voice, Nov 16 2016



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