Researchers looked into why Sriracha hot sauce is so popular and delicious.
Huy Fong Foods, the company that produces the fiery treat, said it is their "most popular hot sauce." The The American Chemical Society (ACS) looked into what chemical reactions occur in the body when the hot sauce is consumed, USA Today reported. The company was stated by a 30 a Chinese immigrant from Vietnam about three decades ago.
"Sriracha is made from sun [ripened] chilies which are ground into a smooth paste along with garlic and packaged in a convenient squeeze bottle. It is excellent in soups, sauces, pastas, pizzas, hot dogs, hamburgers, chowmein or on anything else to give it a delicious, spicy taste. Like all our sauces, we use only the highest quality ingredients and never any artificial colors or flavorings," the company said on their website.
Red chilies, which are the main ingredient in Sriracha, contain capsaicinoids.
The capsaicinoid molecules trigger the TRPV1 protein in the human mouth which responds to 109 degrees Fahrenheit in terms of spicy food, USA Today reported. In an effort to dull this burning sensation the body releases "pain-killing endorphins," USA Today reported. This causes the body to experience pain and then pleasure.
The Scoville scale measures the burn of specific spicy foods. Sriracha is between 1,000 and 2,500 SHU on the scale; Tabasco sauce is between 2,500 and 5,000 SHU while a habanero pepper is 350,000 SHU.
The hot sauce is so popular that it has been used in everything from vodka to candy canes, TIME reported. The sauce has even been aged in whiskey barrels for a unique flavor.
The sauce's other ingredients include vinegar, garlic, and salt, the ACS video reported. The antimicrobial properties in these ingredients help the hot sauce from going bad even if it is not refrigerated.
"This is a really great fact to know but it's pretty much useless because as far as we understand it's impossible for a bottle of Sriracha to go bad without having eaten it all because again, it goes good on absolutely everything," the video said.
WATCH:
