A FORMER pub worker is doing the devil’s deeds — after creating Scotland’s hottest sauce.
Former chef Ewen Mackenzie, 50, makes the hellish concoctions under his Mack Chilli label, which he exports across the globe.
The Red Hot Chilli Fifer, who owns gift shop, Something Different, in Cowdenbeath, said: “The first thing people often ask me is, ‘Where’s the hottest sauce?’.
“But chilli is not about heat, it’s about flavour. There’s over four and a half thousand chillies in the world and it would be silly if they were all hot.
“It’s quite a difficult balance trying to find what people want and what they can actually handle.
“People try the hottest ones and end up dancing about like idiots because they enter panic mode. You’d be surprised at how many people I’ve had crying.”
Ewen named one of his sauces Valhalla, after the location in Norse mythology where Viking warriors killed in battle go.
He adds: “I think some of the folk who tried Valhalla are there right now.”
Ewen spent years working in pubs and kitchens until a serious assault left him with major health issues.
Forced to reconsider his future, he opted to become self-employed and took over a gift shop.
It was during that time he learned all about hot sauce and realised it was becoming big business. Since launching his own brand in 2021, Ewen has flogged upwards of 1,500 bottles a year all over the world.
With dozens of different options, there’s something for everyone on his sliding scale of heat. However, his most infamous offering is Angel of Death.
This extreme condiment is Scotland’s hottest sauce and boasts 90 per cent Carolina Reaper — the second-hottest chilli on the planet — with 9million Scoville unit extract.
These units range on a spectrum from zero, which means no heat at all, to 16million and above for pure fire. The measurement is taken by diluting a pepper extract with sugar water and asking human testers to identify the heat level.
The more water required to defeat the heat, the higher the number of Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
Ewen’s scariest offering equates to being well over 1,000 times hotter than even the angriest jalapeño.
It’s no surprise Mack Chilli has a disclaimer accepting no responsibility for misuse of the product.
Despite his reputation for creating some of the world’s most scary sauces, Ewen would rather people enjoyed the taste rather than simply see them as a challenge.
He doesn’t recommend people throw themselves in at the deep end and instead advises folk to build their tolerance levels properly.
HOT TAKES
I’D never tried anything beyond Tabasco before visiting Ewen, so the thought of this taste test left me hot under the collar.
And while I was pleasantly surprised by the fruity flavours at the lower end of the spice scale, I’ll leave the extreme options for the masochists who have stomachs of steel.
Here’s my hot takes on chilli sauce:
LEAVE THE LIGHT ON (Charity bottle, £3 from each sale to Andy’s Man Club) BBQ sauce with flavours of cherry, cola and smoked chipotle.
CHIQUILA SUNRISE A tasty, fruity sauce with strawberry and plum notes. Goes very well with gamey meat.
TROPICAL TEMPTATION This is truly tropical with hints of mango, peach and orange and a moderate burn.
CELTIC GHOST With a serious kick it is still tasty with flavours of mango able to shine.
ANGEL OF DEATH This will blow your socks off: there’s fruit, like cranberry and orange, in there but all you feel is the burn.
Ewen adds: “If you can take heat then it’s fine, but for a beginner, I’d steer clear from anything too much.
“Start with jalapeño and don’t go straight in and go too far because you’ll just hurt yourself and put yourself off them.
“I do take my sauce across to the pub and see if they can take it though.”
Ewen quips: “They ask me if I’m trying to kill them.
“There was one guy who thought he could take the heat but he couldn’t finish his pint and had to go home.
“A lot of schoolkids like it. And girls seem to have a higher tolerance than the guys.”
For the full range of sauces visit Ewen’s website