This Wagga hot sauce is not for the fainthearted

Wagga chef Jacob Chapple makes a very hot sauce. In fact, it’s so hot that every bottle declares “this is bloody beyond hot” and comes with a legal waiver.

“It covers me and anyone else that supplies my sauce,” he said with a cheeky grin.

“Basically, it says that by purchasing this bottle, you’ve read the ingredients and take full responsibility for any repercussions that may or may not occur from consuming the product.

“They’re taking it at their own risk!”

Jacob decided to get serious about his hot sauce when kitchen work dried up during COVID-19.

“Being a chef, obviously the industry shut down and I just started making it for friends and they liked it and said I should have a go at making this a thing,” he explained.

“I’ve only been live for three and a half months now and I’ve sold 46 litres of sauce!”

To get the ball rolling Jacob struck a deal with Wagga Fruit Supply to keep him stocked with chillies and in return he keeps them stocked with sauce.

“I’m a big believer in eating local and I get my garlic from Black Garlic here in Wagga and I use Beechworth Honey and I also supply my extreme sauce to Wagga Free Range Pork for their VFH Cabana,” he said, explaining that fresh, distinctive flavours were the key.

“There’s not many hot sauces out there these days that have actually got a real flavour to them,” Jacob said.

“They’re more of a punch in the face or a punch in the stomach, but I like to be able to enjoy my sauces, so I use all those beautiful local ingredients.”

But of course, while the flavour is important, hot sauce connoisseurs know that the real measurement is in Scoville heat units (SHU).

To give you an idea, your average bottle of Tabasco sauce measures between 2500 and 5000 SHU while the infamous Carolina Reaper chilli pepper is between 1.4 million and 2.2 million SHU.

“So my mild sauce sits at around 600,000 SHU and my extreme is at about 8.5 to 9 million Scovilles, which is as hot as some of the world’s hottest sauces!

“Even my mildest is hotter than the pepper spray used by law enforcement.”

Jacob’s branded ute is a familiar sight, parked on Wagga’s busy Lake Albert Road, but he said social media had been where things had really taken off.

“TikTok challenges have become quite a big thing for me since making my sauces and people ask me to send them sample jars and they post videos of them tasting them,” he said.

“There’s actually a TikToker in America that has a restaurant and he’s taken one of my sauces on and he wants to have a limited edition just for him.”

Lately, Jacob has been experimenting with chocolate, but he warns that it’s not something to be taken lightly.

“My spicy chocolate is not for the fainthearted,” he says seriously after sharing a photo of a scarlet-faced friend clutching at his throat and choking on the lawn.

“I won’t give it to you unless you can prove to me that you’re able to handle my 8 million Scoville sauce and unless you’re willing to sign a waiver that it’s not going to come back onto me in any way, shape or form.”

As well as working as a chef, Jacob volunteers with St John Ambulance and is studying to be a paramedic, skills that will no doubt come in handy as he shares samples of his sauce!

If you’re brave enough, you can check out Jacobs Hot Sauce here.