OK let’s talk about something that has a near-cult following in Newport Beach: hot sauce. If you were so inclined (and hungry), you could spend an entire afternoon touring the many hot sauce spots on Balboa Peninsula. Visit Cassidy’s and pour their special stuff on a burger. Hop across the street to Aurora, where they make their own secret sauce for the lamb chops locals love. Walk a few blocks to Malibu Farm and sample the special habanero hot sauce they’ve cooked up as a divinely spicy jus for their “Newport nachos.” Bop to Malarky’s for another pepper plant dish-topper. And finally, end at Session West Coast Deli with homemade red sauce that’s drizzled on radical, fresh eats. See? A veritable hot-sauce tour de Newport IS possible.
So, when the opportunity presented itself to partner with Grow and Make, a Portland-based company creating DIY kits for all things including hot sauce, the deal was a no-brainer. The kit would make a perfect holiday gift for the resourceful spice enthusiast who not only wants to have his or her hot sauce but make it, too. (Click here to check it out.) Other kits sold by Grow and Make include DIY artisan cheeses, chocolate and candy-making, candle-making and more.
Our hot sauce kit recently came to the West Oceanfront office, so step by step, here’s how we realized the juice in these kits is worth the squeeze …
DISCLOSURE: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, we earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Trust us, we totally wish we could write for free. (We also wish chocolate had no calories.)
The packaging is so cute.
The kit comes with all the ingredients you need to create your hot sauce, so you don’t have to forage for a thing. Everything is right there, waiting to simmer.
The instructions are easy to follow, even if you don’t like instructions or following.
The process of making your own sauce is more satisfying than you’d think. Being a maker and mixing this sauce is endlessly more fun than clicking on Amazon and hitting “buy.”
Grow and Make provides the bottles and labels, which makes it simple to pour your sauce, name it something cool and store it away for the next time you’re feeling spicy.
West Oceanfront approved: get your own Grow and Make hot sauce kit here!