Mallorcan hot sauces: from mildest to hottest
Salsa Picante Martínez is a small brand from Sóller that has been selling its sauces since 2017. They are made in Mallorca with a simple recipe: 67% chilli, white wine vinegar, salt, maize starch and spices. All come in 100 ml bottles and contain sulphites from the vinegar. Here they are, ranked by heat.
The Scoville figures (SHU) we give are the usual values for each chilli; the sauce is a little milder because it's diluted with vinegar.
Mild: to get started
- Serrano: green serrano chilli (10,000–25,000 SHU). The maker calls it its mildest sauce, suitable for almost every palate. Tangy and fresh.
- Chipotle: chipotle in adobo, which is smoked jalapeño (2,500–8,000 SHU), with a smoky aroma. More flavour than heat: perfect for tacos, burgers and barbecue.
Medium: for every day
- Cayenne: Mallorcan cayenne peppers that the maker grows in his own garden (30,000–50,000 SHU). Direct, clean heat.
- Original: the house recipe, with four chillies (rocotillo, piquín, corazón de paloma and malagueta) and a touch of lemon.
- Green Habanero: habanero picked before it ripens. Fresher and greener than the red one, but already quite hot.
Very hot: for seasoned chilli fans
- Habanero: ripe habanero (100,000–350,000 SHU). Fruity and very hot.
- Ghost: ghost chilli or bhut jolokia (around 1,000,000 SHU). Use it drop by drop.
Extreme: only for the brave
- Scorpion: Trinidad Scorpion (1,200,000–2,000,000 SHU).
- Carolina Reaper: one of the hottest chillies in the world (1,600,000–2,200,000 SHU). The hottest in the range.
If you want to go even further, there's Lágrimas de Mallorca, the brand's 2,000,000 SHU capsaicin extract. It's no longer a sauce but a concentrate for cooking: we explain how to use it in this article.
For cooking: the hot oil
Oli Extra Picant is olive oil with chilli oleoresin. A few drops on pizza, potatoes, pasta or pa amb oli give a good hit of heat without changing the flavour.
How to choose and use them
- Not sure where to start? Try the Original or the Cayenne: hot, but with flavour.
- As a gift for a real chilli-head: the Carolina Reaper or the Ghost.
- Shake the bottle before use and start with a few drops. You can always add more.
- Once opened, they're best kept in the fridge so they keep their colour and flavour longer.
Bring Mallorca to your table
Products from Mallorca that go with this article, shipped across Spain and Europe.
