There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that light is called antibodies! Hooray for science! Once you and your friends are all fully vaccinated, what better way to celebrate your newfound immunity than by having a hot sauce challenge? Or, while you wait for the immunity to kick in, why not have a virtual hot sauce challenge over Zoom? On the other hand, maybe you live with a big enough household to start that challenge now. 

In any case, you’re in it to win it, and Try My Nuts is here to help. Want to know how to win a hot sauce contest? Here’s what you need to do. 

Start Prepping for Your Hot Sauce Challenge Now 

First of all, the sooner you start getting ready for your hot sauce challenge, the better. The secret is preparation and building tolerance. That’s the difference between your friend from Texas who eats hot peppers for breakfast and your friend from Wisconsin who thinks potato salad is too spicy. Nobody pops out of the womb craving spicy foods. You have to build your tolerance over time. 

Now, if you stumbled onto this list because you’re about to have a hot sauce challenge and need advice right now, go ahead and move on to the next item. Or save this one for your next contest. But if you’ve got lots of time between now and your challenge, now is the time to start working your way up to the spiciest hot sauces you can find. 

Start with a medium hot sauce. Eat spicy snacks. Don’t overdo it, or your esophagus will be very angry with you. 

You can eat something spicy every day as long as your body tolerates it well, but don’t eat too many spicy foods right before your hot sauce challenge. Hot peppers are hot because of a substance called capsaicin. Capsaicin sends the pain signal to your brain. The more capsaicin is in your body, the more your body will react, so you don’t want too much of it inside of you before the challenge starts, even if you are into that sort of thing. 

Do eat something before your challenge, though. It’s good to have something other than hot peppers lining your stomach. Dairy products can counterbalance the spiciness. 

Feel the Burn 

A hot sauce challenge is mostly mental. It’s mind over matter, not unlike that time when you pretended to love helping your kid with online schoolwork – although we’d argue that the hot peppers are less painful. 

First of all, if you want to scream in pain, do it. Just like when you stub your toe, yelling when you eat a spicy pepper is a great form of pain relief. Also, it turns out that cursing helps, too. Do with that information what you will. 

Second, tell yourself that you love that hot sauce burn. Really lean into it. The great thing about humans is that we are simultaneously so smart and so stupid that we can convince ourselves of basically anything. Go ahead. Tell yourself that you want to feel the burn. Cherish the burn. Love the burn. Rent an apartment and move in with the burn. Go to couple’s counseling with the burn. You can make this work. 

Remember That It’s Temporary 

At the same time, remember that any pain from your hot sauce challenge is temporary. Some people lose pepper-eating contests when they get too caught up in what’s happening right now. They forget that the pain will only last for a few minutes. But it will only last for a few minutes, so if you can stick it out for a little while, you’re well on your way to winning that spicy food contest. 

Choose Your Hot Sauce Delivery System 

We’re assuming that you’re not just eating hot sauce directly off of a spoon, here. And if you are, we recommend that you reconsider. Hot sauce is delicious, but it’s more delicious if you put it on a chip or something. 

Which brings us to our next point: choose the right food to put your hot sauce on. Starchy foods may absorb some of the heat from your hot sauce, and foods with interesting textures can distract your mouth from the spiciness. Don’t put your hot sauce on something that’s already spicy or tangy on its own. 

Drink Water Before — Not After — Your Hot Sauce Challenge 

So, what’s the deal with water when you’re eating spicy foods? Does it help or hurt? 

It depends on when you drink it. If you drink ice water right before you start the hot sauce challenge, it can help by making your mouth a little numb, so the spiciness from the peppers will be easier to tolerate. 

Don’t drink water right after you’ve eaten hot sauce, though. That can make the burn more intense, and you’ll end up like those Game of Thrones dragons when they destroyed that city. Go for milk or ice cream instead. Dairy neutralizes the burn from capsaicin. And ice cream is delicious. 

Get Ready to Sweat 

You’ve been preparing your mouth for this hot sauce challenge, but what about the rest of you? Sure, you’ll feel the effects of the hot sauce in your mouth first, but your entire body is going to get involved in digesting that stuff. 

What we mean here is that you’ve got to be prepared to sweat. We’re not saying that you should go chasing hypothermia or anything, but if it’s going to be warm enough in the hot sauce room, maybe wear short sleeves. 

Get Your Hot Sauce Challenge Sauces 

If you’re ready for a hot sauce challenge but don’t have the right sauces, we’ve got you covered with the Hot Sauce Challenge Book of Pleasure and Pain. It contains 12 hot sauces, so you can challenge yourself or your friends to find out how much heat you can handle.