Caribbean hot sauce: Scotch bonnet, Madame Jeanette and Surinamese pepper sauce

In Suriname and on the islands in the Caribbean, there is almost always something hot on the table when you eat: a bottle of pepper sauce, a jar of sambal, or a few rings of pepper in vinegar. The pepper in it is usually a scotch bonnet or a Madame Jeanette, small, wrinkled and fruity in scent, and hot enough to stop you in your tracks. Our Caribbean range in the toko in Amsterdam is not large, but it contains sauces with their own character. Grace, for example, is the pepper sauce you simply see in the supermarket in Jamaica, the bottle that people there keep in their cupboard. If you want to see the whole picture first, start with Hot sauce 101.

What is Caribbean hot sauce?

Encona Extra Hot Pepper Sauce is a typical Caribbean hot sauce. Such a pepper sauce is made from finely ground hot peppers with vinegar and salt, and often onion, mustard or fruit is added. The difference with a bottle from Louisiana lies in the pepper: scotch bonnet and its family are not only hot but also smell fruity, and you can taste that in the sauce. On the label of the Encona Original, now sold out, are habanero, scotch bonnet and mustard.

Extra Hot Encona · 142 mlPure pepper sauce in West Indian style4/5Hot Pepper Sauce Grace · JamaicaSmall bottle, for a few drops4/5Papaya Encona · 142 mlHot pepper with papaya3/5Mango Chili Encona · 142 mlFruity and sweet, with a mild kick2/5Scotch Bonnet Crazy Bastard · 100 mlScotch bonnet with Caribbean spices3/5Kerrie Sowsu Sranang Fassi · Flaming HotSurinamese curry sauce with fire4/5

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What is a scotch bonnet?

Crazy Bastard Scotch Bonnet & Caribbean Spices revolves around the pepper that Caribbean cuisine relies on. The scotch bonnet is a small, flat and somewhat wrinkled pepper that ripens yellow, orange or red, and owes its name to its shape, which resembles a Scottish bonnet. It is about as hot as a habanero. In Jamaica, it is used in jerk, the spicy marinade with pimento and thyme for grilled dishes. Crazy Bastard makes this sauce in Berlin and calls it medium hot itself.

What is Madame Jeanette?

Flower Brand Madam Jeanette Sambal Rood is made from the Surinamese counterpart of the scotch bonnet. Madame Jeanette is a yellow to red, somewhat elongated and wrinkled pepper with the same fruity scent and intense heat. Scotch bonnet, Madame Jeanette and the habanero from Yucatán all belong to the same pepper species, Capsicum chinense. Read more about the habanero in Mexican hot sauce.

In Suriname, Madame Jeanette is used in rings in vinegar and finely ground in sambal. According to the label, Flower Brand's red sambal consists of 92 percent Madame Jeanette, with no added sugar, and is really for those who are used to heat.

Sambal Madam Jeanette Flower Brand · 200 gFruity heat, for the table4/5Madam Jeanette Red Flower Brand · 200 g92% Madame Jeanette, without sugar4/5

What types of Caribbean hot sauce are there?

Caribbean hot sauce differs per island: Jamaica, Barbados and Suriname each have their own pepper sauce, and a few are placed next to each other in the toko.

Jamaica: pepper sauce and jerk

Grace Hot Pepper Sauce comes from Jamaica and is in a small 85 ml bottle: a few drops are enough. The Encona Jamaican Jerk BBQ Sauce is not a pure hot sauce but a barbecue sauce with the taste of jerk, and you mainly use it as a marinade or to glaze.

West Indian pepper sauce

Encona Extra Hot is pepper sauce in West Indian style, the version of Encona for those who want it really hot. On Barbados, pepper sauce is often yellow from mustard, and you also find that mustard on the label of the Encona Original.

Fruity pepper sauce

Encona Papaya Hot Pepper Sauce and the Encona Mango Chili Sauce combine hot pepper with tropical fruit. The fruit makes the sauce sweeter and rounder.

Jamaican Jerk BBQ Encona · 142 mlJerk flavour, for marinating2/5Hot Pepper Sauce Grace · 85 mlJamaican pepper sauce4/5Extra Hot Encona · 142 mlFor those who want it really hot4/5Papaya Encona · 142 mlHeat with the sweetness of papaya3/5Mango Chili Encona · 142 mlThe mildest of the bunch2/5

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How hot is Caribbean hot sauce?

Encona Papaya Hot Pepper Sauce and the other Caribbean sauces are eaten with rice and beans, fried fish, frituur, and everything from the grill. If you want to make something in the direction of jerk yourself, rub chicken thighs or drumsticks with the Encona Jamaican Jerk BBQ Sauce the evening before, so the marinade can soak in, and then grill them on the barbecue or in a hot oven until the skin is dark and crispy. A few drops of Grace or Encona Extra Hot through a pan of brown beans or through the sauce of a stew give warmth without losing the flavour of the dish, while the fruity sauces with papaya and mango are delicious with fried fish, shrimp, or a sandwich with thin slices of grilled pork neck.

Choosing per dish? Look in Which hot sauce with what. For noodles or pho, sriracha is a better fit.

Hot sauce from mild to superhotCaribbean, American, Mexican and craftShop nowSuriname sowsu, spices, sambalEverything for the Surinamese kitchenShop nowSambal also with Madame JeanetteFrom oelek to Surinamese sambalShop nowMexican hot sauce habanero from YucatánThe Mexican family of the scotch bonnetShop now

Surinamese recipes with Madame Jeanette

With these recipes, you put sambal Madame Jeanette on the table, and in the sour dish the pepper itself goes in rings.

Roti with chickenChicken thigh fillet in masala with potato and string beans, with sambal Madame Jeanette on the side.Brown beans with salted meatA thick pan of beans with salted meat, rice and sambal Madame Jeanette.PomOven dish of pomtajer and chicken thigh fillet, with rice and sambal on the side.Surinamese bamiFried noodles with chicken thigh fillet and lots of ketjap, with sambal Madame Jeanette.Surinamese nasiFried rice with chicken thigh fillet, trassi and ketjap, with sambal on the table.Surinamese sourCucumber in vinegar with allspice and rings of Madame Jeanette.

Also with moksi alesi and saoto soup a bowl of sambal belongs on the table.

Frequently asked questions

A bottle of Caribbean pepper sauce is small, but you bring a whole kitchen into your home with it, because with a few drops on your rice with beans or a spoon of sambal Madame Jeanette next to your roti you immediately taste why they actually don't go to the table in Suriname and on the islands without that pepper. Start slowly with a fruity sauce and build up, because even there everyone has their own idea of what is hot. Are you in the toko in Amsterdam and in doubt about a bottle, feel free to ask us, and if you want to know how Caribbean hot sauce compares to Tabasco, sriracha or a Mexican habanero sauce, read on in Hot sauce 101.